A Twist of Fate
by Akatsuki Leader13
Summary: AU In a world where Aang died during the Purges of the Air Nomads a hundred years ago, a new Avatar appears. One who doesn't desire the title. But she must embrace her destiny or the world will burn. Abandoned.
1. Book 1: Chapter 1

Yo everybody! I know, I know, I'm starting yet another story. To be honest, I had no intention of writing an Avatar story until earlier this summer, when I found a one-shot called 'Risks' by Chibi Renamon. After reading that one-shot, I found myself drawn to the idea behind it. It was so different and found myself wishing that it wasn't a one-shot, but a full story. In the end, I found myself working on this first chapter for the last month and a half.

Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: the Last Airbender.

**Chapter One: A New Avatar**

The South Pole

"Search the ship. We cannot let her escape." a Fire Nation officer ordered as his men rushed towards the abandoned Fire Navy ship trapped in the ice.

If they could not find her, the Fire Lord would not be pleased. And if the Fire Lord was displeased, then they were not long for this world. The men scoured the old ship, searching every nook and cranny of the vessel. After almost half an hour of fruitless searching, the soldiers gathered atop the deck of the ship. "She's not here sir. She must have escaped from the ship. What shall we do now sir?" one soldier said.

The officer growled in frustration. The Fire Lord was not going to be pleased. "She could be anywhere by now." he sighed. "We're heading back. Let's hope she dies out here in this frozen wasteland."

The soldiers proceed to climb down the robes they had used to board the derelict ship. As they left, a panel on the wall next to the door to the deck slid open. Azula climbed out of the wall she had been hiding in. She shivered as she rubbed her hands together. Spending half an hour surrounded by frozen metal had nearly froze her to death. But it was better than being caught. She created a fire in her hands to warm herself. She needed to figure out a way to get off this giant glacier and head back north.

She stared into the blue flames. But then what? Her own father had just ordered her arrest. Undoubtedly, word would soon spread across the entire Fire Nation. From the capital to the furthest colony would know that she was now a criminal. More than that, she was now the most wanted criminal of the Fire Nation. Azula knew she couldn't return to the Fire Nation.

Her mind went back to that moment. The moment that had changed everything. The moment everything was taken from her.

* * *

Earlier That Day

Azula stared out at the horizon from the deck of her father's personal ship. They were returning from inspecting elements of Southern Fire Navy Fleets off the southern coast of the Earth Nation, when Fire Lord Ozai had decided to take a brief detour to perform a slave run on the Southern Water Tribes. There were no more waterbenders in the Southern Tribes and most of their pathetic warriors were fighting their forces elsewhere. Any attack would only further demonstrate the superiority of the Fire Nation. As a result, her father had dismissed the four ships traveling with them.

It didn't matter anyway. This would be little more than a short, dull distraction.

Sokka, clad in his warrior attire and facepaint, stood on the snow wall of their village, watching as the massive Fire Nation ship approached the village. He had never seen a ship like it. Though his though his knowledge of the Fire Nation's Navy was fairly limited. The ship was huge, even for a Fire Nation ship, and looked far more elegant than any warship he ever seen. It's black bow was trimmed with gold, as has the roof of the ship's tower. Which looked more like a Fire Nation-style building rather than a warship's bridge tower.

As the ship approached, it tore through the ice, sending tremors through the village.

The bow of the ship dropped, crushing the village wall, sending Sokka crashing into the snow. A group of Fire Nation soldiers walked down the bow's ramp and took up positions at the foot of the ramp. Then another group descend the ramp. A pair of soldiers, wearing red armor and helmets that Sokka had never seen before, followed by a man clad in elegant heavy cloak with a five-pronged headpiece shaped like a fire and at his side, there was a young, dark-haired girl with a similar cloak. Behind them were more warriors in red armor and normal soldiers.

Sokka lunged at one of the soldiers, roaring as he swung his club down. The Fire Nation warrior effortlessly sidestepped the swing and backhanded the Water Tribe teen. Sending him to the ground. "Water Tribe dog. You dare threaten Fire Lord Ozai. You shall burn for your insolence." the soldier said, raising a hand.

Ozai raised his hand, stopping the man. "Hold. We'll take him. There's nothing more amusing than breaking in a defiant slave."

The soldier nodded his head, dropping his stance. "Yes my lord."

The soldier and one of his comrades grabbed Sokka. The teen fought and struggled as they slapped shackles on his wrists and ankles. A fist slammed into his stomach just before they let him go. Sokka doubled over, clutching his chest.

"Sokka!" Katara shouted, rushing to her brother's side.

But a soldier intercepted her, slapping her to the ground. Sokka screamed out his sister's name and tried to reach her. Only to be knocked to the ground by another warrior, who put it his foot on the teen's back. Katara climbed to her knees, her eyes locked on the Fire Lord. "Please. We're just a simple people. We meant no disrespect Fire Lord." Katara pleaded, her eyes watering. "We just wish to peacefully. Please. I...I'll go with you if you let everyone else go."

"Katara! Don't!" Sokka shouted as he struggled to free himself from underneath the soldier's boot.

Ozai approached the girl, until he was looming over her kneeing form. "You would sacrifice your own freedom to save all these people?"

Katara nodded. "Yes. Please spare them."

"Shackle her." Ozai ordered, turning away from her. "And everyone else of a suitable age. If anyone resists, kill them."

Katara's eyes widened in horror. "No! Please! Don't!" she begged, grabbing the hem of Ozai's cloak.

Big mistake.

"You dare to touch the Fire Lord, _peasant_." a furious Ozai growled.

A second later, Katara screamed in agony as a fire whip lashed across her back, followed by another. Sokka frantically fought to get to his feet, to help his sister. But he was effectively pinned underneath the Fire warrior's foot. "You and your people will be properly taught to respect your betters. If you submit, you will not suffer much. Should you resist, such pain will only be the beginning." the Fire Lord said, the heat from his whips melting some of the snow around them.

Ozai extinguished his whips and started to walk away from her as his soldiers entered the village. Katara could hear the screams and cries of the women and children of her village as they were torn apart. She looked up, staring at the Fire Lord. Katara hated him. More she had hated anyone in her life. It was because of the Fire Nation raids that her mother was dead. Her father was gone, leaving them to fight against the Fire Nation. Now she had offered herself in exchange for sparing Sokka and the rest of the village, only to have him throw it in her face and tear apart her village.

Acting on anger and instinct, Katara drew the water from the melted snow into her hands and quickly formed a pair of ice daggers in her hand. No one noticed as most them focused on her village. In one motion and ignoring the pain from her burns, Katara stood up and threw the daggers with all of her might. Ozai caught her sudden movement in the corner of his eye and turned. But it was too late. There wasn't enough time for him to mount any kind of defense or for anyone to come to his aid...

But they didn't hit.

To everyone's surprise, the daggers were floating an inch away from Ozai's chest. Though none as surprised as Azula, who stood near her father, her hands reaching out as though to grab the ice. Slowly, everyone turned their attention from Ozai and the ice daggers to Azula. A few seconds later, the daggers fell to the ground.

Azula staggered back like she had been by a rock blast, completely transfixed on her hands. Her normal cold and controlled demeanor was broken. She couldn't believe what had just happened. What she had just done. It was impossible. She stopped those ice daggers, but not with firebending. Not even with her bare hands. She had just _stopped_ them. But she was a firebender. There was no way a firebender could have stopped ice like that. Only a waterbender could have. The only firebender that could have used waterbending was... Her eyes widened as her mind came to a possible conclusion. The _only_ possible conclusion. "No... It can't be... It's impossible..." Azula said, shaking her head, desperately trying to deny it.

"Arrest her! She's the Avatar!" Ozai shouted, his face barely containing his rage, already having realized what she just had.

"No... You're wrong father. I'm not the Avatar. I can't be." Azula desperately said, trying to convince her father as well as herself.

Ozai shook his head. "No. You are the Avatar. Hidden under our noses all this time. It seems I've banished the wrong child." He turned to one of his guards. "I want her taken alive."

"My lord, what about the villagers?"

"Leave them! Arresting Azula is infinitely more important than them!"

The guards advanced on her, several holding chains that hand been intended to be used on the slaves they had planned to take. "Stay back." Azula ordered, sliding back into her normal demeanor and taking a fighting stance.

They ignored her. Given a choice between obeying her and obeying her father, they would choose him every time. But they truly didn't concern her. Though her father's bodyguards were expert firebenders, Azula was quite certain that she could take them and the normal soldiers in a fight. Her father, however, was a different story. She knew she wouldn't stand chance against him.

"Surrender. We outnumber you. You cannot hope to defeat us all." the captain said.

"I don't need to defeat all of you." Azula replied, firing a jet of blue fire at the captain.

The man fired off his own fireball. But the crimson fireball was consumed by the azure one as it streaked towards him. The captain screamed as the fireball engulfed him. The other firebenders attacked, jets of fire raced towards the Fire Nation Princess. Azula thrust her hands downward, firing two streams of blue fire into the ground. Propelling her into air, evading the fireballs. As Azula started to fall downwards, she lashed out the soldiers with a pair of fire whips. Striking down several.

Unfortunately for her, more soldiers were disembarking from the ship, intending to overwhelm her with their numbers rather than but skill. Though Azula knew many, many firebending techniques, including how create lighting, (though she had yet to master the technique and wasn't about to use it here) she knew that she had only a few options left. She swung her arm, creating a small wall of blue fire in front of her. Azula quickly turned and ran, using her fire to propel herself forward faster than the guards could run. It was unlikely that the soldiers knew this technique. Her father's bodyguards probably knew it, but they weren't about to leave her father's side.

As the soldiers chased after Azula, Katara rushed over to her brother. She pulled him up, the shackles on his wrist clanging together as he rose. "Come on, we have to get out of here." Katara said, keeping her voice low as she pulled him away. At the same time, the women and children of their village fled as well.

Azula raced across the tundra. Her father's soldiers were not far behind. She needed a place to hide until they gave up. That's when she spotted it. An old derelict Fire Nation vessel. The perfect place to hide. She quickly reached the hull of the old vessel and leaped up, using her firebending to enhance her leap, allowing her to reach the deck of the ship in a single leap.

_'Now to find a place to hide.'_

* * *

The Present

The soldiers returned to Ozai and his bodyguards. Without his wayward daughter. "Where is she?" he demanded.

"My lord, our humblest of apologies. We have lost her." an officer explained. "But my lord, it's unlikely that she will survive out here for-AAAAAAAGH!!"

Flames engulfed the man, burning him alive. No one made any effort to help the man. "We're leaving." Ozai said to the remaining soldiers.

"What of the village and the girl that tried to kill you, my lord?" one of them asked.

The Fire Lord glanced at the now empty village. The feeble peasants had fled during the commotion their battle and chase with the Avatar. "They are of no importance." he said. "Send every messenger hawk out. Spread the word that Azula is no longer Princess of the Fire Nation. She is the Avatar and an enemy of the Fire Nation. She is to be arrested on sight."

"Yes my lord."

* * *

"Sokka, that girl was the Avatar." Katara said as they watched the Fire Lord's ship withdraw from their hiding place behind a snow drift.

"So what? That girl is Fire Nation. Not only that, she's the daughter of the Fire Lord!" Sokka said, trying to break his chains on his ankles with his club. He had just managed to break the chains on his wrists. "Even if she is the Avatar, do you think she's going to stop the Fire Nation?"

Katara couldn't deny that it was possible that she could side with the Fire Nation and help them win the war. But considering what just happened, she could fight against the Fire Nation and bring peace to the world. "That doesn't matter." she argued as she stood, wincing from the burns on her back. "If we don't help her, she'll freeze to death out there! Regardless of who she is, she doesn't deserve that. Are you coming?"

Sokka grumbled, finally breaking the chains on his ankles. but stood up as well. "Fine. But we're getting those burns treated first."

Katara nodded. "Okay. There should be some bandages and ointments in the village."

* * *

Elsewhere

Azula slammed her fist on a wall in anger. The Spirits were mocking her. She was Azula. Daughter of Fire Lord Ozai. The next in line for the throne. Her destiny was to rule the Fire Nation one day. Not... Not this! Not the Avatar!!

Azula let a scream of frustration, a stream of blue fire surged down a corridor of the ship. She cursed herself for that pointless outburst. She was a Princess of the Fire Nation, such an outburst was beneath her. All she needed to do was to come up with a way to turn this all around. Yes... She could turn this around. She just needed to figure out how.

But first and foremost, she needed to find a place to stay as well as food and water. After that, she would need a means to leave the South Pole and head north. This ship would provide adequate shelter. Likely there was still coal in the boiler room that she could burn for heat. And she would be able 'acquire' food from any of the several nearby villages. But means to escape the South Pole would be more difficult. While there undoubtedly would be fishing boats in some of the villages, she doubted that they would be large enough to travel across the ocean safely. Worse, if they did have a large enough ship, it would probably be too large for her to operate by herself.

Azula scowled, gritting her teeth together. Any plans that she could make were all dependent one key part, being able to leave the South Pole. If she couldn't leave, it wouldn't matter what she planned, she'd be trapped in this wasteland for the rest of her life.

"Come on Katara!" a voice called out, disrupting her thoughts. "I don't see any sign of her here. She could be anywhere by now."

"We've only just gotten here. Let's at least search the inside of the ship first." a second voice replied. "Okay?"

"Fine." the first voice grunted, becoming louder as Azula could hear the sounds of faint footsteps drawing closer.

Azula moved into a darkened room, hiding behind the edge of the door frame, really to ambush them. Their footsteps drew closer and their voices grew louder. "Come on. The girl's Fire Nation. Even if we do find her, she'll probably fry us anyway."

"You don't know that Sokka. You saw what happened. She's the Avatar. The one who will defeat the Fire Nation and end the war."

Azula mentally laughed at that. Maybe if she was some Water Tribe or Earth Kingdom peasant. No, She was Fire Nation Royalty. Azula had no desire to defeat her own nation. It was their right to rule the world.

"Do really think she'd actually do that? You heard what they said, she's the daughter of the Fire Lord!"

"So? You saw what happened. The Fire Lord tried to have her, his own daughter, arrested when he learned that she was the Avatar."

Azula scowled again. Her father had clearly overreacted when...when that happened. She wasn't the Avatar. It was impossible. And even if by some bizarre twist of fate she was the Avatar, her father would have known that she wouldn't try to stop her own nation from winning the war. Clearly, he had been overwhelmed by the shock of what had happened and reacted without thinking things through.

"Sokka, you go that way, I'll go this way."

"Fine. But can we please hurry this up and back home."

The sound of the footsteps split apart, heading two different directions. One was coming closer. Azlua smirked. After what had happened earlier today, she needed to blow off some steam. And whoever was heading towards her would help her with that.

"Hello!" the voice, a girl's, called out as they entered the hallway. "Hello! Is there anyone there?"

The instant the girl passed the room she was hiding in, Azula struck, emerging from her hiding place. "Well peasant, you certainly made a big mistake by coming here." she said, ready to attack the girl. "Turn around."

The girl complied, turning to face Azula.

"You!!" Azula said, her eyes locked on the Water Tribe peasant that had caused all of this.

* * *

Sokka found himself wondering how he got himself into this mess as he searched the ship. Why did he let Katara drag him into this? He was the older sibling. He should be the one dragging Katara into messes like this. Not the other way around.

Besides, there was no way that girl was the Avatar. She was the daughter of Fire Lord. Why would the next Avatar be her of all people? Then there was the whole freaky blue fire she used. Regular fire was bad enough, but blue fire? He didn't even know there was such a thing as blue fire.

He walked down a flight of stairs, entering a cargo hold. There was a large tear in the hull, revealing the outside and illuminating the hold. There wasn't much there. Mostly just stacks of old, frozen barrels and crates. But then something caught Sokka's eyes. A locked chest lying near some crates at the far end of the hold. Sokka's eyes widened. It looked like the crew had left behind something. Something valuable no doubt.

Sokka walked into the hold, pausing only when he spotted a tripwire running along the ground. He carefully stepped over it and continuing towards the chest. The chest was of a fair size, but small enough for one person to carry. Sokka carefully lifted up chest, making sure that it wasn't a trap.

Satisfied that it was safe, Sokka headed back towards the doorway. But he forgotten about the tripwire. Until he stepped on it. A rumbling sound filled the hold. "Uh oh..." Sokka said, bracing himself for the trap that was about to hit him.

But a moment later, the rumbling stop and not thing else happened. Sokka let out a laugh. The ship had been out here for so long, what ever trap they had set up had long since fallen apart. Suddenly, there was an explosion, shaking the old ship. "Katara..." he whispered before he ran into the ship, still holding the chest.

It didn't take long before Sokka could hear the sounds of shouting and fighting. When he reached the corridor that he and Katara had split up in, he discovered scorch marks across the walls. He then heard someone scream, "It's all your fault!" coming from the deck.

Sokka rushed out onto the deck. The Fire Nation Princess was angry. No...she was furious. Throwing blue fireballs at his sister. Katara barely managed to dive out of the path of the attacks in time. "You tried to kill my father! You caused all of this!" the firebender shouted, continuing her attacks.

"Please! Calm down!" Katara pleaded as she fought to avoid the fireballs. "I'm sorry! I just want to talk!"

"So you can stab me in the heart with an ice dagger? No." the Princess said, approaching Katara. "I'm not going to give you the chance."

But what neither girl had noticed was that the heat from the fireballs was heating up the frozen metal of the deck. Creating cracks and fractures in the old metal until...

Azula took two steps when the deck collapsed underneath her. The Fire Nation Princess fell, but barely managed grab onto the edge of the deck, cutting the palms of her hands on the cold metal. Azula tried to pull herself up, but there was nothing grab onto to pull herself up. The metal groaned and started ti bend. Either the metal was going to give or she was going to lose her grip. Azula glanced down. Below her was the main hold. A fall from here would break bones at the very least.

"Here, take my hand." the Water Tribe girl said, extending her hand to Azula.

Given the situation, Azula wasn't about to refuse her help. She grabbed the girl's hand. Suddenly, the deck started to give again, Katara lost her balance and started to fall forward, when a hand reached out and grabbed her. "I told you we shouldn't have come here." Sokka said, pulling her back.

"Just give me a hand here." Katara replied.

Sokka pulled his sister back and then the siblings together managed to pull Azula out of the hole and onto a more stable part of the deck. "Why did you do that?" Azula asked, eying both of them with suspicion. "Why did you help me?"

"Hey! We just saved your life. You could at least-"

"We saved you because you were going to fall." Katara explained, cutting her brother off. "We came here looking for you, to be honest."

"So you can kill me."

"No!" Katara replied, victoriously shaking her head. "​We came here to help you. Even if you weren't the Avatar, we-"

"I'm not the Avatar." Azula shot back, her eyes indicating that there was no room for argument on that.

Katara cleared her throat. "As I was saying, we came here to help you. A person could easily die out here if they don't know how to survive out here. It will be getting dark in a few hours, so why don't you come back to our village with us. You can get your hands treated there as well."

Azula glared at her. "Er...by the way, I'm Katara and this is my brother Sokka."

"Princess Azula." she replied, her tone cold. "Let's go."

Azula was no fool. She knew that her odds of survival would increase if she took refuge in a local village. So she would accept their offer to ensure her survival. If she was lucky, they would be able to tell her where she could find a ship to take her north.

As Katara and Azula walked towards the side of the ship, Sokka returned to the chest he had found and picked it up. "Where did you get that?" his sister asked.

"I found it in the hold." Sokka replied.

"In other words, you stole it." Azula said, staring at the chest.

"Hey! They left it here." Sokka said, defending himself. "Besides, they could have stolen it from someone else."

"Boy, was there any kind of wire on ground in the hold or attached to the chest?" she asked, her eyes never leaving the chest for an instant..

"Er...yeah... I kinda stepped on it as I was leaving." an embarrassed Sokka answered. "But nothing happened. The trap must have been broken."

"Actually, that wire could have been attached to a flare. Meaning that chest is probably filled with junk as bait for greedy thief back when there were more of our ships in the South Pole." Azula explained.

"What?! No way! There's got to be something in here."

"Break the lock and see for yourself. There's nothing in there."

Sokka put the chest on the ground and pulled out his club. "There's something valuable in here, you'll see." he said, striking the lock with his club.

Azula shook her head and turned way from the Water Tribe boy. After a few hits, the lock shattered and Sokka opened the chest. Inside was something wrapped in purple cloth. Sokka pulled back the cloth, revealing a large, pale gold egg. "Ha! See! There's a solid gold egg in here!" Sokka said, pulling the egg out of the chest.

Both girls turned back to him, staring at the egg that Sokka was holding triumphantly in the air. "No way... Is that real gold?" a wide-eyed Katara asked.

"Yeah." a very smug Sokka replied as he turned to Azula. "I guess you were wrong, Little Miss Fire Princess."

"Give me that." was all Azula said.

"No. This is mine. I found it fair and square."

"Give it to me or I'll burn off that ridiculous thing on your head."

One of Sokka's hands grabbed his wolf tail. "You wouldn't."

"Yes I would. And don't worry, I'm a very good shot. You should only receive minor burns to your scalp. Unless you don't move your hand." Azula calmly answered.

Sokka gulped and quickly handed the egg to the firebender. Azula examined the egg for moment. Unlike these peasants, she knew gold. How it looked and how it weighted. It was too light and lacked the luster of real gold. This egg wasn't made of gold. But she had seen some like this during her days at the Royal Fire Academy for Girls. This was a... Well, if she was right, it was more valuable than gold. "This isn't gold." she said.

"What?! How do you know?" Sokka asked, not believing her for a second.

"I'm royalty. I know gold. And this is not gold. But I'm keeping it anyway." she said, tucking the egg under her arm.

"Hey! That's my egg!" Sokka said, trying to grab it from Azula.

"Please! Stop fighting!" Katara yelled, trying to stop any further fighting.

Azula and Sokka stared each down for moment. "Fine." Sokka grumbled. "But I don't care who Katara thinks you are, cause I don't believe it for a second. I'll be keeping an eye on you, _Princess_."

"It seems you aren't quite as dumb as I first thought." Azula commented, turning away from the boy.

* * *

An Hour Later

Azula sat alone in the hut, stroking the egg with her bandaged hands, heating it with her bending as she thought. Though far below her normal standards, Azula had to admit, sleeping in a hut would be quite a bit better than sleeping in that old ship. Of course, their arrival had been less than welcoming. Many of the women had wanted to throw her out of the village. Azula had been ready to silence those women one way or the other, when peasant girl, Katara, spoke up for her. Claiming the she was the Avatar, the one to defeat the Fire Nation and restore balance to the world, (it took a great of deal of Azula's mental control not to laugh at that) and if she hadn't revealed herself to be the Avatar, all of them would have been enslaved by the Fire Nation right now. The least they could do was to provide her with food and shelter for the night. In the end, they more or less agreed to provide her with food and shelter for one night, but most wanted her gone the next day. That was fine with Azula. Tomorrow, she would set off a larger fishing village, where she find a ship to leave this miserable iceberg for a warmer and more civilized part of the world.

After that, all she had to do was straighten things with father and everything would be forgotten. A month from now, this whole thing would be just a distant memory.

At that moment, Katara entered the hut and sat down across from her. "How are your hands?"

"Fine." Azula replied, keeping the annoyance she felt at the intrusion out of her voice. For the time being, the girl was useful to her. Insulting the girl would make it more difficult for her to use the peasant. So she would be polite to the peasant for the time being. Even if this was the girl that tried to kill her father. Maybe she'd bring the girl with her as a present to her father.

"So, what is that thing if it's not a golden egg?" Katara asked, eying the egg.

"Just what it looks like, an egg."

"But that ship has been there for years, long before I was even born." Katara said. "There's no way anything in that egg could still be alive."

"Perhaps. Perhaps not." Azula replied, still heating the egg. "There are species in the Fire Nation, whose eggs require a great deal of heat to hatch. Without it, the creature inside will lay dormant until they receive it. They could survive for years like this."

"How do you know that?" Katara asked, clearly impressed by her intelligence.

"Simple. Because I went to the best academy in the Fire Nation." Azula proudly answered.

"What's in the egg then?"

Azula smirked. "If it is what I think it is, then this egg is far more valuable than gold."

"Then my brother was right about it."

"Yes. But it would have been wasted on him. The egg itself is worthless. It's what's inside that's valuable. Something he wouldn't have known." Azula said. "He probably would have thrown it out by now."

"So... What are you going to do tomorrow?" Katara asked.

"Leave this place and find a village with some proper boats, so I can head north."

"Then you're going master the other three elements."

Azula's expression hardened. "I'm not the Avatar."

"Then how do explain what happened with the ice?"

"I don't know. You must have stopped the ice yourself at the last second."

"No. I may be a waterbender, but I'm only a novice. I doubt that I could stop moving ice like that." Katara explained. "But you were reaching out for the ice. You stopped the ice."

"No I didn't." Azula said, struggling to keep her anger and frustration in check. "I am the daughter of Fire Lord Ozai. I cannot be the Avatar."

"What does your family have to do with being the Avatar? Anyone could be the Avatar, regardless of their family." Katara commented.

Azula shook her head. "But the last Avatar was a firebender. I'm a firebender. The next Avatar would have been an airbender. Not another firebender."

"But that was over a hundred years ago. Who knows what could have happened in that time."

The peasant did raise a valid point. Roku's successor could have been killed during Sozin's purges of the Air Nomads. After those purges, Sozin and her grandfather, Azulon, turned their attention to the Water Tribes, seeking to purge the waterbenders as well. After all, water was the opposing element to fire. So that Avatar could have died without anyone realizing that they were the Avatar. Then-NO! Azula stopped that train of thought immediately. She was not the Avatar.

"Well, there is one way to be certain." Katara said, standing up. "I'll be back in a minute."

The Water Tribe girl left the hut for a few minutes before returning with a small bowl of water. Katara set it down in front of the Fire Nation Princess and sat down. "We can prove right here and now. Try as hard as you can to bend the water. To move it." Katara said.

"Hmph. There's reason to." Azula replied. "I'm a firebender. I can't bend water."

"Maybe. But if you're the Avatar, than you can bend water too."

"No."

"Then you have nothing to lose by trying." Katara argued. "If you are only a firebender, then you wouldn't be able to move it. But if you are the Avatar-"

"No." Azula said, interrupting her. "There's no point, because I cannot bend water."

Katara stared at her for a moment. "Are you afraid of the possibility that you could be the Avatar?"

Azula glared at her the instant she said those words. "Leave. Now."

Looking into the firebender's eyes, Katara realized that she had just said the wrong thing. Katara had been so excited about actually meeting the Avatar, that she hadn't stopped to consider what Azula was going through right now. A couple of hours ago, Katara had nearly killed Azula's father. And then when she save him, her own father declared her a criminal and tried to have her arrested. And then of course, there was finding out that she was the Avatar. It was a lot to take in one day. Clearly, she was dealing with everything that happened by denying that she was Avatar.

Katara stood up and bowed her head. "I'm sorry." she said before leaving the hut.

Azula watched her leave the hut before turning back to the bowl. She stared into the water, her hand hovering over it for a few minutes. "What am I doing? Am I actually starting to believe this nonsense?" she said to herself, pulling her hand back and shaking her head. "I'm not the Avatar."

* * *

Elsewhere

A small, and fairly old, Fire Nation ship sailed through the waters of the South Pole. This class of ship was outdated, having been long replaced by newer, larger and faster classes. In fact, aside from this one vessel, all of the ships of this class had either been scrapped or were only used by merchants and traders. But then, this ship was owned by the famed Dragon of the West, General Iroh. Whom had provided it to his nephew, the banished Prince Zuko, three years earlier when his quest to find the Avatar began.

As the crew preformed their duties, Zuko stood at the front of the ship, staring out at the ice and snow, his uncle standing a few feet behind him. Lieutenant Jee stepped out onto the deck, surveying his crew. A short while ago, they had spotted a Fire Nation flare in the distance. General Iroh had told them to head towards it in case their countrymen needed help.

"Sir. A messenger hawk." a crew member called out, pointing into the sky.

Jee turned to the direction the man was pointing, watching the hawk approach the ship. As the hawk neared the vessel, Jee extended his arm, allowing the well-trained bird to land. Jee removed the scroll from the bird's container and unrolled it. He read, then blink a few times. Then he read it again, before rereading it. "Ah...General Iroh, Prince Zuko, I think you're going to want to read this." he called out.

* * *

Now, I admit that I did take some things from Chibi Renamon's story, beyond just the idea of it. To be honest, the only other idea I had for this was to do it somewhere else with Ty Lee and Mai there when it happened and then eventually heading south to find a waterbender teacher or something like. But liked the idea of her being in the South Pole with Katara and Sokka to start off with, more than that one.

The one thing that I wished that Risks had, was the evolution of the Azula we knew in the canon, to the Azula in that story. But that is understandable considering that it was a one-shot. And that is more or less the driving force for me in writing this.

I'm not going to do like Chibi Renamon did, having Evil!Zuko. Zuko's personal journey throughout the series was one of my favorite parts of the whole series and I don't really want to get rid of that. As for pairings, I'm not sure at the moment. Though Zutara fans, I am quite aware of that pairing as it is the most popular pairing of Avatar fanfics, so I don't want to get three dozen reviews asking for that pairing. I may do that pairing. I may not.

Next Chapter: Siblings Clash

As always, review.


	2. Book 1: Chapter 2

Yo! Before I begin, I'd like to give a nod to my first reviewer, Caellach Tiger Eye. Best first review I've ever had.

Now, there are two reviews I'd like to comment on. First, ???, I pointed out in the summary that Aang died during the Fire Nation purges of the Air Nomads, one hundred years before both my story and the canon story begins. Then I hinted at what happened to Aang's successors during the one hundred years. Rest assured, I will explain exactly what happened in a later chapter.

Second, animefan29 raises a valid point about the Avatar learning the elements in the cycle. But I must point out that Aang learned firebending in the first season after Roku told Jeong Jeong to teach him, before he had learned earthbending. Implying that the Avatar can learn and master the elements without following the cycle. It's just easier and better to do it that way.

Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender

**Chapter Two: Siblings Clash**

Zuko's Ship

Iroh let out a laugh the moment he finished reading the note. He found it funny and ironic. His brother's favorite child, the one he had groomed into his prefect heir, that he warped into his mirror image, was now his enemy. It seemed that fate had a sense of humor.

Then there was the fact that Azula was the Avatar. He knew what the girl was like. She had been a less than pleasant child and devoted completely to her father. Frankly, Iroh had believed the girl to be a lost cause. But now... Now things were different. Ozai had branded her a criminal of the Fire Nation upon the discovery that she was the Avatar. Iroh couldn't help but wonder what was going through Azula's mind right now.

Iroh knew that this changed things within the Fire Nation as well. With Zuko's banishment and Azula's revealed status as the Avatar, Ozai was without an heir. Which meant that those ambitious enough among the Fire Nation nobles and military officers could attempt a coup against Ozai. Few knew it, but in past, there had been coups against a reigning Fire Lord when he was suddenly without an heir. As a result, many Fire Lords had sought to have multiple children to prevent that. For if a coup was attempted against a Fire Lord and he was killed during, more often than not, the people of the Fire Nation would rebel against the false Fire Lord and the heir of the true Fire Lord would take the throne. But if there was no heir and the Fire Lord was killed, there would be no one to assume the throne from the Royal Family, so the people wouldn't resist the new Fire Lord and his Royal Family.

Ozai needed Zuko back to stop these hungry wolves. But he couldn't just call Zuko back after he had publicly banished him like that. Not without Azula in chains. Anything less would be a sign of weakness and could actually make things worse.

Iroh glanced at his nephew. Zuko's eyes scanned over the message again. His face was surprisingly neutral. Iroh was unsure of what his nephew was thinking. While he knew that Zuko and his sister had a _strained_ relationship. And with Azula being the Avatar, there was nothing to stop Zuko from becoming Ozai's heir. But on the other hand, bringing Azula to Ozai would guarantee imprisonment for life for her. Though if Ozai was confident that there were no more airbenders in the world at all, he may order her execution. Zuko wasn't foolish enough not to know that. His honor would be regained at the cost of his sister. Iroh didn't think that Zuko could do that. Zuko could, and likely would, pursue her. But he hoped that when the time came, Zuko wouldn't be able to bring himself to take her to Ozai in chains.

Zuko rolled up the scroll and walked back to the bow of the ship. Iroh chose not to speak to Zuko at that moment, letting his nephew process what they had just learned.

* * *

The Southern Water Tribe Village

The Next Morning

It was early when Azula woke. At first, she was confused by her surroundings, but she quickly remembered what had happened the day before. She quickly put her cloak back on and left the hut. She may be stuck in this backwater village, but she would perform her morning exercises. Azula walked outside the village and started going through her routines as the first of villagers stirred from their sleep. Her movements were swift and graceful. Streams and arcs of blue fire flew through air around her. She looked more like a performer on stage than a young firebender going through her morning exercises. By the time she has halfway through her exercises, nearly the entire village was watching her. Azula ignored them, her back turned to them. While the children watched her in awe, many of women reacted much differently.

"Blue fire? How can such a thing be possible?"

"It's unnatural."

"That girl's a bad omen."

"If she stays, she'll curse the entire village."

Azula didn't pay any attention to the comments of the ignorant peasants. She doubted that many of them had actually seen a firebender before, much less seen a master level firebender like herself.

As everyone watched Azula exercise, Sokka sneaked into the hut Azula had spent the night in. Next to the furs she had slept in was the egg, wrapped in a blanket. Carefully picking up the egg, Sokka sneaked out of the hut. He found the egg, it belonged to him. He should be the one to keep it, not her.

He had gotten about four steps away from hut when Azula spun around, swinging her arm. A fire whip lashed out, striking an inch from Sokka's left foot, stopping him. "Put that back, thief." Azula said.

"I-I-I...But...How..." Sokka stuttered.

"I said, put the egg back." Azula said, her tone much more forceful.

"I-I...I going to put the egg back now." a shaken Sokka replied before rushing back into the hut.

Azula turned back, resuming her exercises. After seeing that, many of the mothers pulled their children away from the firebender and returned to their huts. Afraid that she would lash out at them at any moment. She wouldn't. Azula had nothing to gain for doing so.

When Azula finished her final set, Katara approached her. "Wow... I've never seen bending like that." the water girl complemented.

A grin spread across Azula's lips. If there was one thing she was proud of beyond anything else, it was her firebending. Many called her a firebending prodigy. With firebending talent not seen in a generation. Her grandfather once said that she was blessed by Agni. All of which was true. When it came to firebending, there were few that were better than her. "That's because I'm a prodigy." Azula proudly replied. "Firebending is has natural to me as breathing."

* * *

Zuko's Ship

Azula wasn't the only one going through their morning exercises.

"Again." Iroh ordered.

Zuko fired two streams of fire at a pair of soldiers. The two men deflected the fire upwards before shooting off their own jets of fire at the Prince. Zuko ducked under the first jet and then leaped over the second, flipping over the two soldiers.

Iroh let out a sigh and stood up. "No. Power in firebending comes from the breath, not the muscles. The breath becomes energy within the body. The energy extends past your limbs and becomes _fire_." he explained, shooting out a jet of fire in front of the Prince. "Get it right this time."

"Enough!" Zuko shot back. "I've been drilling this sequence all day. Teach me the next set. I'm more than ready."

"No. You are impatient." Iroh, sitting back down. "You have yet to master the basics."

Zuko let out a growl. He spun around, kicking a fireball at one of the soldiers he was training with. The man pulled up a fire shield in time, but the force of the impact knocked him to the ground. "Azula is the Avatar. That means she only has one element that she can use. If I wait around, she'll seek out masters of the other elements. She could be searching for a waterbending master right now!"

"Your sister may only have one element at her command, but Azula is firebending prodigy. The kind only seen once a generation." Iroh replied. "She mastered these sequences before she was six. And I don't doubt for moment, that your father taught her many advanced techniques since your banishment. If you can't even master the basics, do you really believe that you can stand up to her?"

"And that's why I need more than basic firebending to defeat her!" Zuko shouted in his uncle's face. "You will teach me the advanced set!"

Iroh frowned. "Very well." he said. "But first..." Iroh reached for something on the ground. "I must finish my roast duck."

Zuko was left dumbstruck as his uncle started devouring his meal.

* * *

The Southern Water Tribe Village

Later

"While there are several villages of our fellow tribesmen, there is only one that would have ships capable of crossing the ocean. Here, to the east." Kanna said, pointing on a map. "The quickest way to get there, is by canoe. But it will still take the better part of a day to reach the village. And even then, the men in their village, like our men, have left to fight in war. I doubt there is anyone there to take you north."

"All I need is a boat capable of ocean travel." Azula replied. "I can pilot it myself."

Kanna nodded her head. "Very well. Sokka will take you there."

Sokka didn't like that idea. "What?! Why do I have to take her, Gran Gran?"

"Because you are the oldest man left in the village. There is no one else suitable."

"But that's why I need to stay here. There's no one else to protect the village if something happens." Sokka argued.

Azula rolled her eyes. Like he done such a good job last time.

"I'll take her." Katara said, speaking up.

"What?!!" Sokka shouted in disbelief. "But Katara, you've never traveled that far by yourself."

"She won't be by herself. I'll be there." Azula pointed out. "Though if one is able to take me, I guess I'll just have to stay _here_."

Sokka shuttered. "I'll take you."

"Then both of you will take her there" Kanna said.

"Black snow!!" a villager shouted, interrupting their conversation.

"Fire Nation!" Sokka cursed, rushing to his feet and then outside, along with Katara and Kanna.

Azula on the other hand, wasn't quite as fast. It could be her father, returning after realizing the mistake he made yesterday. However, those hopes were dashed when she saw the vessel. It was a smaller, older model, not her father's ship or even a current model warship. _'Must be pirates.'_ Azula thought as she slipped behind a hut, waiting to see how things played out.

The ship approached the village, using the same gouge her father's ship created. The vessel came to a halt and it's bow unfolded, becoming a ramp. Sokka pulled out his club, taking a defensive stance, remembering what happened yesterday when he charged in without thinking. A teen in full Fire Nation armor walked down the ramp. Behind him, a group soldiers, both normal and firebenders, followed behind him. The teen had a nasty burn scar around his left eye.

_'Zuzu? This is a surprise. What is he doing here?' _Azula thought as Zuko approached the villagers.

"I'm looking for someone. A girl from the Fire Nation." Zuko said, looking around at the group of villagers. "That crevice was caused by a Fire Nation vessel. She was here. Where is she?"

"Zuzu." she said, stepping out of the hut. "Still looking for the Avatar?"

"Azula. I've found the Avatar." Zuko said. "Surrender. I don't wish to fight you."

Azula let out a laugh. "Don't tell me that you actually believe that nonsense."

"No. It's not nonsense." Zuko replied, pulling out a scroll. "Father himself has publicly declared that you are the Avatar and that you are to be arrested on sight."

"You're lying."

"See for yourself." Zuko said, extending the scroll out.

Azula tore it out of his hand and unrolled it. Her paled and a horrified expression spread across her face. It couldn't be true... This had to be a forgery. But... It was in her father's handwriting and it bore the seal of the Fire Lord... How could Zuko fake those? He couldn't. There was no way Zuko would be able to fake those... Her father had really...

_'No! Father wouldn't do that to me! It has to be a trick! I'm his favorite!'_

"I don't think so Zuzu." Azula said, tossing the forgery away. "But I will be taking that ship of yours."

Zuko slipped into a firebending stance. "I don't think so, Azula."

"Are you going to challenge me to an Agni Kai, Zuzu? We both know how well your last one went." Azula mocked as she entered her own firebending stance. "But if you like, I can make you face symmetrical again."

Zuko roared, lashing out with a stream of fire. Azula kicked the stream upwards, deflecting into the sky. "Not bad Zuzu. For a child anyway. But if you really want to fight me, you'll have to use some more advanced techniques. You do know more advanced techniques, right? You haven't just been slacking out for the past three years, right?" Azula taunted.

An enraged Zuko struck back, throwing more and more fire at her. Azula summoned a shield of fire in front of her. Zuko's crimson flames were consumed by her blue fire when they hit. Azula hit back, throwing a stream of fire at her brother. Zuko dove out of the path of her fire, rolled and blasted her fireball. Azula threw her own. Crimson and azure fire met and exploded. A split-second later, a blue fire whip lashed out at Zuko, knocking his helmet off and pushing him back a step.

"I'm bored Zuzu." Azula complained. "If you're just going to play around, then why don't we play a game?"

Zuko scowled at her while she only grinned. Zuzu was playing right into her hand. "Yes. A game sounds fun, doesn't it Zuzu." she continued. "How about a game of tag? Oh, and you're it."

Azula took off, running away from Zuko and the village. But Zuko was close behind, throwing the odd fireball at his sister. Though none actually hit her. Azula headed for a rather tall nearby hill, leaping over and ducking under Zuko's fireballs. Soon, Azula stopped, reaching the top of the hill, which had a ledge extending over the other side of the hill.

"It's over Azula. There's nowhere for you to run to." Zuko said as he caught up to her.

Azula turned around, smirking. "You're wrong Zuzu. I haven't been running from you. I've been _leading_ you here."

Azula took a running jump. Zuko knew what she was doing. Azula was going to leap over him and cut the ledge with firebending, sending him down the hillside. Zuko countered, throwing all of his strength into a single attack. A jet of fire raced towards his sister, but Azula managed to create a fire shield, blocking the worst of the attack. However, the force of impact knocked Azula back, though she managed to land on her feet. Unfortunately, she landed on the very edge of ledge. Azula struggled to maintain her balance for a moment. Then the edge collapsed under her feet, plunging her down the hill.

Zuko rushed to the ledge, watching his sister's body rolled down the side of the hill like a ragdoll. Unlike the opposite side of the hill, this side was initially very steep, but leveled out as it reached the ground. Azula's body came to rest on the ground at the foot of the hill. Zuko jumped, skating down the hill towards his sister. "It didn't have to be like this." he said, reaching Azula. "I didn't want to fight you. But I need to regain my honor."

Azula was out cold. Zuko sighed before picking her up and carrying her over his shoulders, back to his ship.

For a brief moment, Azula smirked.

* * *

The Water Tribe villagers quietly watched as Zuko carried Azula onto his ship and then the ship departing from their village. While nearly everyone in the village returned to what they were doing before the ship appeared, Katara stood on the shore, watching the ship slowly pull away.

"Sokka, we have to go after that ship." Katara said as her brother approached her. "Azula needs our help."

"Katara-"

"I know you don't like her, but Azula is the Avatar. She's the only one who can end the war." Katara continued. "If we don't help her now, no one will. And the-"

"Katara!" Sokka shouted, cutting her off. "I had a feeling you were going to say that. So I grabbed this." he said, gesturing to his canoe.

"Sokka!" Katara cheered, hugging her brother.

"Yeah, yeah. Come on, we got an Avatar to save."

"What do you two think you're going?" their grandmother said, her tone strict. "You'll be needing this." she continued, her face turning into a smile as she handed them a pack filled with supplies and the egg they recovered from the old ship. "You have a long journey ahead of you."

Both siblings were stunned by their grandmother's words. "It's been so long since I've had hope. But you've brought it back, my little waterbender." Kanna said, hugging her granddaughter. She turned to Sokka. "And you my brave warrior, be nice to your sister."

"Yeah. Okay Gran." a dejected Sokka replied as he hugged his grandmother.

"Azula is the Avatar. Even if she refuses to accept it at the moment. She's the world's only hope." Kanna explained. "Destiny brought her to our village for a reason. Just as it was destiny for you two to bring her back to our village. Your destinies' are intertwined."

Katara turned to the canoe. "I don't think that we're going to be able to catch up with a warship in a canoe." she sadly said.

"Not necessarily. In their haste to reach their homeland, they're navigating straight into a heavy ice flow. They will have greatly slow down before long." Kanna said. "Go. You should be able to catch up with them."

* * *

Zuko's Ship

Later

After returning to the ship, Zuko had his sister secured in one of the cells and assigned a pair of guards to keep watch. "So she's the Avatar. Bet the Fire Lord wishes he banished her instead." one said with a chuckle.

"Yeah. At least we get to go home now." his comrade added.

"Oh yeah! I'm looking forward to returning to civilization. No more freezing our butts off out here."

Suddenly, there was a loud banging sound, coming from the cell. One guard turned his head, peering through the barred window of the cell door. Azula, who had been lying on the cot in the cell since Zuko had brought her in, was gone. "She's escaped!"

"What?! How?!" the other soldier asked. "We've been here for the entire time!"

"I don't know." the first man said, opening the cell door.

The two entered the cell, looking for some since of their prisoner. Suddenly, Azula dropped from the ceiling, striking the two guards from behind, knocking them out. Azula stepped out of the cell and closed the door, locking it again.

Azula smirked as headed for the engine room. This was proving to be far easier than she thought it would have been. Her plan had been simple. Lure Zuzu to that hill and get him to attack her. She would fall and become 'unconscious'. Then he would take her back to ship and lock her up. Aside from being sore and bruised from her fall, everything had gone off without a hitch.

Now that she was here, it was time to start the second part of her plan.

* * *

Zuko stood on the deck of his ship, watching as the ship slowly moved through the glaciers. Azula was safely in a guarded cell and he was heading home, for the first time in three years. His honor would be restored. But at the same time, while it would be a glorious homecoming for him, for Azula, it would be the beginning of a life in chains, locked in a maximum security cell for the rest of her life.

Zuko's relationship with his sister had never been good. When they were younger, Azula teased him and picked on him mercilessly. He still remembered her taunts after Lu Ten's death, when she claimed that their grandfather, Azulon, ordered their father to kill him, so that he would feel his brother's pain.

A part of him hated his sister. She, unlike he, had always had their father's attention. And while he struggled with his firebending, she, his little sister, near effortlessly mastered firebending.

But at the same time, Azula was his sister. He couldn't bring himself to hate her entirely. To be honest, he was torn between regaining his honor and the fate of his sister.

Suddenly, the ship's engines died and the ship began to slow down. Zuko rushed into the bridge. "What's going on? Why have the engines died?"

"I don't know, Prince Zuko." Lieutenant Jee reported. "While I called for quarter-speed as we traveled through the ice patch, I gave no order to cut the engines."

Zuko turned to one of the crew members. "Check on my sister." he ordered.

The man nodded and ran out of the bridge as Iroh entered. "Problems?"

"Engine problems, General Iroh." Jee replied.

"Oh? I hope it's nothing serious."

* * *

Azula smirked as she left the engine room. She had just finished sabotaging the ship's engines. It would take at least day to repair the damage she had done to the engines. She could have done much worse, but time was of the essence. The second the engine died, Zuzu and the rest of crew would be trying to figure out what happened and someone would come down to investigate. Now all she had to do was raid the cargo hold for supplies and then steal the smaller steam-powered boat, and she would be free.

Fortunately, she was familiar with this vessel's design. The hold that held the main food stores for the ship was on the same floor as the hold that held it's riverboat.

Azula raced up a flight of stairs, heading towards the food stores. Fortunately, the crew was in a state of confusion. Most weren't even sure what was going on and those that did, were heading to the engine room to see what was going on.

When she reached the main food stores, there was only a single man there. The ship's cook, who was loading a cart with food. A kick later, the man was out cold and Azula was loading the cart with food and water.

* * *

"General Iroh, Prince Zuko! The prisoner has escaped!" the soldier shouted as he entered the bridge.

Zuko scowled and rushed out of the bridge, heading for the engine room. Upon reaching the engine room, Zuko found nothing unconscious crew members and the damaged engines. Zuko roared in frustration. He had find her! Azula couldn't have gotten far. After all, they were on a ship, surrounded by glaciers. There wasn't far for her to go.

* * *

Unnoticed by those on the ship, a small canoe pulled up alongside the ironclad ship. Both siblings were a little tired from their rowing, but they had bigger concerns. "Why do you think they stopped?" Katara asked.

"Don't know, but I'm not complaining." Sokka replied. "Now let's get a little closer so we can use the robe to get up."

At that moment, a hatch opened up on the back of the ship, creating a ramp to the water. A smaller steam-powered boat slid down the ramp.

* * *

Zuko entered the hold that held the riverboat as it slid into the water. He ran to the ramp and slammed his fist against the wall as the boat floated away from the ship. Somehow, Azula had managed to break out of her cell, sabotaged his ship and now she was escaping on the ship's riverboat. "Azula!!" he shouted.

Azula stepped out from inside the boat. Grinning, she waved to her brother. "Bye, bye Zuzu. And thank you for boat. I wasn't quite sure how I was going to leave the South Pole until you showed up."

Azula turned to head back into the boat, leaving her angry brother unable to do anything but watch her leave.

"Azula!" Katara called out as she and her brother started to row towards the smaller boat as.

Azula stopped and turned to them, visibly surprised that they were there. They were clearly here to attempt a rescue for her. But why? What did they have to gain from helping her? No matter. If they wanted to come along, then so be it. Besides, she was pretty sure the Water boy had something that belonged to her.

The two siblings pulled their canoe alongside the boat and climbed aboard, bringing their packs with them. "We came to rescue you." Katara said. "But I guess you didn't need to be rescued after all."

"Of course not." Azula replied, taking the boat's wheel. "I allowed myself to be captured."

This caught both siblings offguard. "Wait, what?! Why would you do that?" Sokka asked.

"Simple. I needed a way to head north. Then Zuzu came along. While his ship was too big to use without a proper crew, I knew he had this boat on board. Which could be operated by a single person." Azula explained. "So I tricked Zuzu into thinking he had knocked me out and had him take me back to his ship. I escaped from the cell he put me in, sabotaged the ship's engines, and took this boat. Oh and Water boy, put my egg in the engine room."

"Hey. I don't have it." Sokka said defensively. "I haven't touched it since this morning. Katara's carrying it. Not me."

Azula turned to Katara, who was pulling out the egg from a pack they had brought. She nodded. "Good. You heard me Water boy, put my egg in engine room and keep an eye on the boiler. Keep the boiler going, but use the coal sparingly. We only have enough for week. A week and a half at most."

"Why do I have to?" an annoyed Sokka asked. "And quit calling me Water boy."

"Either do it, or get off my boat. Water boy."

Sokka grumbled, but took the egg and headed into the back. "So where are we going now?" Katara asked.

That was the one part of her plan that Azula hadn't thought through. ...Because honestly she didn't know what she would do now that she was leaving the South Pole. She had tried to rationalize what happened, that her father had been mistaken and would realize his mistake or that she could convince him that he was mistaken. But after reading that message, she couldn't deny it. No matter how badly she wanted. Her own father declared her the Avatar and a criminal. Both were ridiculous claims. But that didn't matter. The chances of changing her father's mind had dropped to nonexistent. Everything she had ever desired was now lost to her. In all her life, Azula had never felt so...so unsure of herself. She had always felt so confident, self-assured. Now... Now she was literally sailing into the unknown. What would she do now?

"I don't know." she admitted to the Water Tribe girl, her voice quiet. "I honestly don't know."

* * *

Now, I would like to point that Zuko's firebending abilities were good, but not in the top tier of firebending until the third season, unlike Azula, who was always in that top tier since her introduction in series. So I don't want to hear about how one-sided the fight was.

Next Chapter: The Southern Air Temple

As always, review.


	3. Book 1: Chapter 3

Yo. Originally, this was all going to be one chapter. But as I got about halfway through it, I realized it was getting fairly long. So I split it in two, finished up the first half and here we are.

raven12490: Yes. Azula is the Avatar, hence she has the Avatar state at her disposal and she will use in the future.

gaby: First off, I'm not a fan of Haru/Katara. Mainly because I feel that he's too old for her. Second, you want Azula to hook up with Azula?

Disclaimer: As I said before, I don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender.

**Chapter Three: The Southern Air Temple**

_The sounds of combat filled her ears. The crackling, snapping sounds of raging fires. The howls of the wind tearing through the temple. Thunderous explosions. And screams of the dying..._

_The Fire Nation was attacking the temple. But she knew what they were really after, her, the Avatar. Already, many of the children and non-benders had fled, either on Sky Bison or through the hidden passages. Many of the monks had urged her to flee. But she couldn't leave so many of her friends and teachers behind. She would stay and fight beside them, no matter what._

_She raced through corridors, blowing away Fire Nation soldiers and firebenders that crossed her path with powerful blasts of air. The soldiers slammed into the walls, ceiling and floor of the temple. Battered, bruised and unconscious, but alive. Even now, she couldn't bring herself to kill them._

_She reached a courtyard and let out a gasp. "No..."_

_Dozens of bodies were lying over the courtyard. Many were Fire Nation, but most were her fellow monks. Their bodies having been cut, stabbed or burned. She heard a low, weak groan coming from one of the bodies. It was a monk, lying on his stomach, with burns along his left side. She knelt down and pulled the man onto his back. It was the senior monk of the temple, Monk Pasang. He opened his eyes. "Avatar...You must survive...You must hide..." he said, fighting to speak each word. "Seal yourself in the Sanctuary...the Fire Nation won't...be able to...find...you...there..."_

_He let out one last gasp. Then the life left his eyes and his chest stilled. Monk Pasang was dead._

"_I will." she said, brushing the tears from her eyes as she stood up._

"_There's another one!" a Fire Nation soldier shouted upon entering the courtyard._

_Half a dozen soldiers and a firebender rushed into the courtyard, intending to kill her. The firebender threw a stream of fire at her. She countered by spinning her staff in front of her. The flame hit her staff, but was scattered by the air swirling around her staff. The second the fire stopped, she swung her staff horizontally. An arc of air hit the firebender, knocking him back into his cohorts, sending them all to ground._

_Instead of continuing her attack, she turned an ran, heading for the Sanctuary. She knew it was nearby. The Sanctuary was a big, thick door with a wind lock. It was unlikely that the Fire Nation would be able to breach it._

_She ran through more hallways, knocking aside the occasional Fire Nation soldier. Quickly, she reached the courtyard at the heart of the entire temple,where the hallway to the Sanctuary was._

_Unfortunately, a group of soldiers and firebenders were there. Far more than she would be able to fight..._

_Suddenly, she heard a loud, pained roar overhead. Everyone looked up. "Appa!" she screamed as she watched her beloved companion crashed, sliding across the ground, slamming into the various Fire Nation warriors, before hitting a wall._

_In bout of anger, she lashed out that remain soldiers. Gusts of air tore at the men, tossing them into the air and violently slamming them into the walls and the ground._

_Once they were dealt with, she rushed to Appa's side. Numerous arrows and spears were embedded in his body, alongside several bad burns. Appa let out another pained cry. She hugged the right side of his head. "Hang on Appa. It's going to be okay. We just have to get into the Sanctuary and we'll be safe Appa."_

_Appa tried to stand up... only to collapse. He wasn't able to stand, much less walk. They both knew it. The Sky Bison then pushed her away with his head. She knew that if Appa could, he'd be saying "Go."_

_But she couldn't. Not without Appa._

_At that moment, she screamed in agony as blast of fire hit her left shoulder. She fell to one knee, holding her burnt shoulder. Her head turned, glancing over her other shoulder._

_Those soldiers and firebenders that hadn't been seriously injured, had gotten back up, surrounding her and Appa. She wasn't going to let them hurt Appa. She got back onto her feet, raising her staff defensively. The firebendrers lined up in front of her while the soldiers covered the sides, pinning her in. The firebenders, as one, slammed their feet on the ground and struck, streams of fire racing towards her._

_Again, she spun her staff, creating an air shield, protecting her and Appa from the fire. But she knew that she was tiring and her shoulder was in bad shape. They all knew she wouldn't hold out for long._

_Half the firebenders continued pouring fire on her while the other half stopped, summoning fire into their hands. Once they had gathered enough fire, they threw large fireballs at her. This sudden attack, combined with the ongoing attacks from the others, was too much. The impact of the fireballs shattered her staff._

_The last thing she saw was the streams of fire enveloping her._

Azula's eyes shot open as she rose up from the bed. Breathing heavily as beads of sweat crawled down her brow. She found herself confused. What was that dream? She had nightmares before, but nothing like that. It was strange. She wasn't herself in the dream, but rather someone else. It was more like she was watching everything through the eyes of someone else.

_'No. It was just a dream. Nothing more.'_

Azula stood up from her cot, pushing the strange dream to the back of her mind. She changed into her clothes and did up her hair before leaving the bunkroom for the bridge of the small vessel.

"Good afternoon, Azula." Katara greeted as the firebender stepped onto the bridge.

Azula simply nodded as she moved beside Sokka, who had the ship's wheel. It had been two days since they had fled the South Pole on the stolen riverboat. She had piloted the boat during the night while the Water Tribe siblings slept. At dawn, they had switched, allowing her to sleep.

"So any idea where we're going, besides just north?" Sokka asked.

"Just keep going north, Water boy."

"For the tenth time! My name is Sokka! Not Water boy!"

Azula ignored him as Sokka ranted. She knew where they were going to next. They were heading for the cluster of islands that had once belonged to the Air Nomads. After the Air Nomads had been wiped out, few ventured to those islands anymore. Fire Nation Navy had no ships patrolling the area. And it was next to the southern tip of the Earth Kingdom. It was an ideal route to the Earth Kingdom. It was slower than going the direct route, but it avoided Commander Zhao's naval base completely.

"When was the last time you checked the boiler?" Azula asked, cutting off Sokka's tirade.

Sokka paused, scratching his chin. "I don't know. An hour ago."

"Then maybe you should get back there and check on the boiler."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm going." Sokka grumbled as he headed to the engine room as Azula took the wheel.

"You know, you could try being a little nicer to Sokka." Katara commented.

The Princess snorted. Why should she be nice to simple peasant? Admittedly, one that was helping her when she had no one else to aid her. ...Okay. As much as Azula hated to admit it, she needed allies at the moment. She _needed _their help if she was to survive and avoid the soldiers of her own nation.

Agni! This whole situation really left a bad taste in her mouth. She wasn't sure which gulled her more, that she actually needed help or that she needed help against her own nation.

Azula let out a sigh. "I'll try."

Katara smiled. "We're heading towards the Air Nomad lands, aren't we?"

"Yes."

"Then maybe we can find some airbending scrolls for you." Katara said.

Azula let out an annoyed sigh. She was getting tired of this. Katara was a fairly smart, but stubborn and naive girl. The waterbender girl was still clinging to the absurd belief that she was the Avatar. "I keep on telling you, I am not the Avatar. And even if I was, the cycle is broken. There are no more airbenders. Hence the Avatar cannot learn airbending."

"Maybe, maybe not. There still could be airbenders hiding somewhere in the world. Or there still be airbending scrolls hidden in their temples." Katara said, not losing hope for a second. "Can we at least stop for a day when we get to the Air Nomad lands, to see what we can find?"

"Fine. But when we find nothing, which we will, you must stop with this Avatar nonsense." Azula said.

Katara nodded. "Deal."

* * *

Later

They had reached one of the island mountains that had belonged to the Air Nomads and had landed on a beach for the night. Katara and Sokka were out on the deck of the boat, eating their dinner while Azula stepped into the small engine room. Near the boiler, lay her egg. Azula picked it up, feeling the heat radiating the egg. "I think it's about ready." she said aloud to herself.

Azula returned to the deck with the egg. "Hey. What are you doing with the egg?" Sokka asked.

Azula didn't answer as she placed the egg on the deck. An instant later, blue flames engulfed the egg. The fire burnt itself out pretty quickly, leaving a scorch mark on the deck and the egg. Suddenly, the egg started to shake and small cracks appeared at the top of the egg.

The egg top shattered and a reptilian head poked out. It's scales were a dull brownish-red. It's head had a triangular shape, with it's snout ending in a rounded point and a small bone ridge extended past the back of it's skull. The creature let out some screeches as Azula gently picked up the broken egg with the creature still inside.

"So... what is that?" Katara asked, eying the small creature curiously. "A dragon?"

"Close. But no." Azula replied. "It's a wyvern."

"A what?"

"A wyvern. They were cousins to the dragons. Though they lacked the size and power of the dragons, they were easy to domesticate and had been domesticated by firebenders for hundreds of years. In fact, it was considered a great honor for a firebender to be allowed to have one." Azula explained. "But I thought they had all died off almost a hundred years ago."

"So basically, it's firebreathing lizard." Sokka commented, looking down at the wyvern. "Just what we needed. Another one."

Both Azula and the wyvern looked up at Sokka. "AAAAAGH!!! MY NOSE!!" Sokka screamed as the the wyvern leaped out of the egg shell and bit down on his nose.

Sokka wildly shook his head, trying to dislodge the wyvern. But with no success. "I like it already." Azula said, enjoying the scene.

"That's fine. JUST GET IT OFF MY NOSE!!"

"Alright, alright. Hold still." Azula ordered, reaching for the wyvern. She gave the wyvern a quick yank, pulling it off of Sokka's nose.

"How's my nose? Is it still intact?" a panicking Sokka asked.

"Yes. It's fine Sokka." Katara replied.

"Besides, it doesn't have any teeth yet." Azula said, stroking the belly of the infant reptile.

Unlike a dragon, which had a serpentine body, the wyvern had a body like a lizard's, with a tail, hind legs and a pair of wings. It's body, like it's head, was covered in dull brownish-red scales. "So what are you going to call it?"

"I think I'll call her...Hisaki."

"I don't care what you call it, just keep it away from me." Sokka said, nursing his nose.

Hisaki glanced at Sokka and hissed at him. "It seems she doesn't like you either." Azula replied.

* * *

Fire Nation Southern Naval Base

The Next Day

"Uncle, I want the repairs made as quickly as possible. I don't want to stay too long and lose her trail." Zuko said as he and Iroh disembarked from their ship.

The damage Azula had inflicted on the engines had been pretty severe. Though they had managed to repair the engines enough to travel, it would be better for them to reach a harbor and make full repairs there.

"You mean your sister." Iroh said.

"Don't mention her on these docks." Zuko snapped, keeping his voice low. "As far as everyone else knows, she's still in the South Pole. If word gets out that she's got a boat, every firebender and soldier will be searching to the north instead of the South Pole. And I don't want anyone getting in the way."

"Getting in the way of what?" a voice asked.

An brown haired man approached, clad in a Fire Nation officer uniform. It was Zhao. "Prince Zuko." he said, greeting the prince.

"Captain Zhao." Zuko replied, trying to keep his voice civil.

"It's Commander now." he said before turning to Iroh and bowing his head. "And General Iroh. Great hero of our nation."

"Retired General." Iroh replied.

"The Fire Lord's brother and son are always welcomed guests here." Zhao said. "What brings you to my harbor?"

"Our ship needs repairs." Zuko answered.

Zhao glanced at the ship. But couldn't see any damage. He raised an eyebrow. "Really? It doesn't look damaged."

"Because just our engines were damaged."

"Hmm... Only your engines? I imagine there's an interesting story behind that."

"Ah-yes." Zuko said, turning to his uncle. "Uncle. Tell Commander Zhao what happened."

Iroh's eyes widened in surprise. "...Yes. I will do that." he said, trying to come up with a story. "It was incredible. Pirates boarded our ship in the middle of the night and damaged our engines."

"Really? Then you must regale me with all the thrilling details." Zhao said. "Join me for a drink?"

"Sorry, but we have to go." Zuko answered, declining the offer and walking walking away.

Iroh grabbed the boy's shoulder, stopping him. "Prince Zuko, you must show Commander Zhao your respect." he said before turning to Zhao and bowing his head. "We would be honored to join you. Do you have any Ginseng tea? It's my favorite."

The two men walked off. Zuko let out frustrated growl and followed after them.

* * *

The Riverboat

"According to the map, this mountain is where the Southern Air Temple is." Azula said as she held Hisaki in her arms. "Now if you know of a way to reach it, I'll go." she added with a smirk.

"Yeah... I don't think we're going to be able to get up there, Katara." Sokka said, staring at the mountain.

"Maybe there's a secret passage or something." Katara suggested. "We should split up and see what we can find."

Sokka nodded while Azula sighed. "You're not going to find anything." she said.

"That doesn't matter. You promised me one day to find something here." Katara replied. "So we should all split up and see what we can find."

* * *

Zhao's Tent

"And by years end, the Earth Kingdom capital will be under our rule. The Fire Lord will finally claim victory in this war." Zhao proclaimed, staring at the huge map hanging from the side of his tent.

"If my father thinks the rest of the world will follow him willingly, then he is a fool." Zuko stated, unimpressed.

"I see your time at sea, has done little to temper your tongue." Zhao replied. "I assume you've heard the latest news about your sister."

"Yes."

Zhao took his seat. "It must be comforting that the only thing you must do to gain your father's favor is to bring him the one person who was your rival for the throne." he said. "Everything you lost, restored. I imagine that you're quite eager to find her."

Zuko didn't say anything.

"According to the report, she should still be in the South Pole." the Fire Nation officer commented. "Though weren't you and your crew searching in the south? I can't help but wonder if you happen to have any new to add."

"We were searching in the south when we were attacked." Zuko replied. "We didn't find any trace of her."

"Prince Zuko, the Avatar is the only one that can stop the Fire Nation from winning this war. If you have an ounce of loyalty left, you'll tell anything you know about the whereabouts of former Princess Azula."

"I told you that we didn't any trace of her." he answered. "It's like you said, she's still in the South Pole." Zuko then rose to his feet, heading for the exit of the tent. "Come on Uncle, we're going."

At that moment, a pair of guards entered, barring his path. "Commander Zhao. We interrogated the crew as you instructed." one soldier reported. "They confirmed that Prince Zuko had the Avatar in custody, but let her escape."

Zhao smirked, rising to his feet. "Now, remind me, how exactly was your ship damaged?"

* * *

Katara had been the one to find something. Inside a small cave, she had found a stone disk in a round shaft leading up into the mountain. There was a column of stone teeth running down the shaft. The teeth met a stone gear attached to one side of the platform. There were five holes evenly spaced in the platform, revealing a pit underneath the platform.

"So what is it?" Sokka asked.

Katara shrugged. "Maybe it's a way to get into the temple."

"A way that requires airbending." Azula said. "Something none of us can do. With means we can't use it"

"Actually... Do that flying fire thing." Katara said.

Azula raised an eyebrow questioningly. "Flying fire thing?"

"That thing you did with your fire when you were fighting those firebenders. Use on one of those holes."

"I doubt that will work."

"Just try it anyway."

"Fine." Azula said, handing Hisaki over to Katara. She stood over one holes and pulled her fist back. She thrust her fist down, a jet of blue fire poured through the hole. The platform shot up, flying up the shaft. It took about five minutes for it to reach the top, where the platform suddenly stopped. But Azula didn't stop. "There's got to be some kind of locking device. Hit it!" Azula urgently said.

Sokka reached for a lever on the wall and pulled. There was a groan as the locks activated, holding the platform in place. Azlua collapsed to her knees, exhausted. "I'm not doing that again for a while."

"Looks like we made it." Katara said, glancing out the doorway.

Azula looked up. Her eyes widened as she stared at the Southern Air Temple. She had seen it before.

In that strange dream...

* * *

Zhao's Tent

"So, your sister tricked you and managed to acquire a means to leave the South Pole." Zhao said, pacing in front of Zuko and his uncle. "That isn't too surprising, considering that she is a prodigy."

"I underestimated her once. I won't let it happen again." Zuko shot back.

"No. It won't." Zhao replied. "Because you won't have a second chance."

"Commander Zhao!" Zuko roared. "I've been hunting the Avatar for two years! I-"

"And yet when you had her, you lost her." Zhao pointed out. "You failed miserably. Clearly, capturing Azula is too important to be left in the hands of a failure like yourself. She's mine now."

Zuko rushed to his feet, only for the guards to grab him and restrain him. "Keep them here." Zhao ordered, leaving the tent.

Zuko growled in anger, kicking over the nearby table. Shattering the teapot that was sitting on it. "More tea please." Iroh calmly said.

* * *

The Southern Air Temple

The three of them wondered the halls of the Southern Air Temple. It was in rough shape. The damage from the Fire Nation attack and a hundred years of disrepair had left their mark on the temple. There were also skeletal remains all over the place. Some still wore the weathered remains of Fire Nation armor or Air Nomad monk robes.

It saddened Katara to see the remains of a once great people like this. The waterbender turned her head to Azula. Her face was neutral, making it difficult to guess what she was thinking. Though she did notice that Azula was occasionally glancing at their surroundings with a funny look in her eyes.

They rounded a corner, coming into a courtyard. The three teens gasped at what greeted them. The skeletal remains of a young person lying against the skeleton of a much larger creature. Perhaps an airbender and his pet, falling together against the Fire Nation. She couldn't help but wonder who this person was and their life had been like.

Once again, Katara glance at Azula. To her surprise, Azula was pale and looked absolutely stunned. "This can't real... That was just a dream..." she heard Azula whisper to herself.

A dream? Katara was puzzled by Azula's words. Was she visions in her dreams? "Are you alright?" she asked.

Azula's face quickly slipped back to a neutral expression. "I'm fine." she said, walking away. "As you can see there's nothing here but old buildings and bones. We should get going before Zuzu tries to track us down..." Azula trailed off, staring at something.

Both Katara and Sokka turned to towards whatever Azula was staring at. Only to find nothing. Katara turned back to Azula, who's eyes were moving, following something they couldn't see. "What do you see?" she asked.

But Azula didn't seem to hear her. She rushed off, heading down a hallway. Sokka and Katara both glanced at each other and chased after her.

She was standing in front of a large door with a circle made out of a long coiled tube on it. "Azula. What did you see?" Katara called out as she and her brother approached. She didn't respond. Azula was looking up at the door, but her eyes were closed. "Azula? Azula, are you alright?"

But she didn't move or react. Sokka snapped his fingers in her face. Nothing. Sokka nervously cleared his throat. "I like her better this way. Her big mouth is quiet now."

At that moment, Hisaki slid from Katara's grasp and bit Sokka's ankle. "AAAAAAAGH!! GET THIS THING OFF OF ME!!"

Suddenly, Azula's eyes opened. But instead of her normal golden eyes, her eyes were glowing white. Both Water Tribe siblings stepped back, unsure of what was about to happen. Azula extended her arms out. She took a step forward, thrusting her arms forward as well. Twin currents of air shot out of her hands and into the two ends of the tube. The air flowed through the tube, hitting the locks and unlocking them. The door slowly slid open.

Azula closed her eyes again. Her arms fell to her side and her eyes opened. Azula blinked and looked around. "What just happened?" she asked, a confused tone in her voice.

"Do you mean when you run off after nothing. Or when your eyes started to glow and you opened that door with air." Sokka replied, yanking Hisaki off his ankle.

"You're lying."

Katara shook her head. "No. It's the truth. Your eyes were glowing then you opened the door with... well I guess airbending."

Azula scowled. "Impossible. I'm a firebender. I cannot bend air."

"Then how do you explain what happened? Why did you run here?" the waterbender asked.

"I saw someone. A boy, clad in Air Nomad clothes. But he was strange. It was like he was a..." Azula stopped, either unable or unwilling to repeat her words.

"A spirit?"

"...Yes." she said through gritting teeth.

"Then what happened?"

"The spirit waved me over for a moment before running. For some reason, I was compelled to chase after him. He came here and disappeared. Then suddenly you two appeared and the door opened."

"We followed you and as Sokka said, your eyes started glowing and you opened the door." Katara said. "Someone or something wants you to enter that room."

Azula turned around and started walking off. "I don't care. I'm done with this place."

Katara sighed. Azula was stubborn, but so was she. And she had an idea. "Then I guess you really are afraid."

Azula stopped. "What did you just say?"

"You're afraid." Katara replied. "Ever since we've met, you've been afraid to even admit the possibility that you could be the Avatar. When I tried to get you to prove beyond the shadow of a doubt whether or not you are the Avatar, you refused. Because you're afraid that you could be the Avatar. Afraid that you are the Avatar."

Azula turned to face her, glaring at her. She looked ready to fry both siblings in a second. "I am not afraid. And I am not the Avatar."

"Then prove it."

Azula started walking towards the door. "Fine." she growled. "Let's get this over with."

She paused to pick up Hisaki and entered the darkened room. Sokka and Katara followed her in, unsure of what to expect.

* * *

Now, Azula didn't enter the Avatar state. Aang's spirit temporary possessed her, so he could open the door for them.

Also, a few people have been asking about Mai and Ty Lee. At the moment, I am sticking to the canon regarding their introduction (not counting flashbacks). Though I am considering the possibility of bringing them in earlier. But even then, it won't be for a while.

As always people, review!


	4. Book 1: Chapter 4

Yo everybody! I would have had this up over the long weekend, but I was too busy to finish it in time. But now it's done.

Oh, and to all the people who put this story on alert or in their favorites and didn't leave a review, and there are bunch of you after my last posting. Come on. The least you could do is leave one little review.

**Chapter Four: Shattered**

Southern Air Temple

The chamber was large, reaching upwards, seemingly forever. There was a spiral on the ground. Along this spiral, stood dozens of statues of men and women from each of the four nations. But there were countless more along a spiral path craved into the walls of the chamber.

They were Avatars. Past Avatars through the entire known history of the world.

Sokka whistled. "That's a lot of statues."

Katara walked up to the first row of statues. "And look, they're from each nation." she said, pointing at a statue of an Air Nomad. "Air Nomads." Then she pointed at the next one, a man wearing heavy furs. "Water Tribe." Her finger moved to another man, this one from the Earth Kingdom. "Earth Kingdom." Finishing on a woman clad in Fire Nation robes. "And Fire Nation." She turned back to her brother and Azula. "It's the Avatar cycle."

"And your point is? It's just a bunch of statues." Azula replied. "In other words, nothing."

"There could be something else in here. The door was opened for reason. The answers we're looking for are here. We just have to find them." Katara said, walking into the rows of statues with her brother.

Azula shook her head at the waterbender as she set down Hisaki and followed, the wyvern close behind her. The girl's blind faith in the Avatar and all this nonsense was getting on her nerves. If it wasn't for the fact that Azula thought that she and her brother could be useful to her, she never would have allowed them to come.

The statues were meaningless to her. Of people that she didn't know and that we long dead, if they even real people to begin with. As pointless as this whole stupid trip up here.

But at that moment, she came face to face with him. The statue of Avatar Roku.

Azula looked up at the face of Roku. The eyes of the statue seemed to glow dimly. She found herself unable to tear her gaze away from the statue. The eyes seemed to pierce her very soul. Suddenly, a stream of images rushed into her mind. They were too many and too fast for Azula to make any sense of them, though she could have sworn that the Fire Temple on Crescent Island was one of the images.

"Azula? Azula? Are you alright?" Katara asked, touching her shoulder and jarring her of her trance.

Azula shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts. "I'm fine." she replied.

"So who is this?"

"Avatar Roku. He died over a hundred years ago." Azula answered.

Katara raised an eyebrow. "Really? How did you know that? There's no writing on the statue."

Azula rolled her eyes and shook her head. "It's not because of some mystical Avatar nonsense. It's because I've seen him in history books before." she said, raising her arm and extending her index and middle fingers.

A feeling of dread filled Katara. "What are you doing?"

A blue flame emerged just above her finger tips. "Roku was a traitor to his nation. This century long war is because of him. Because he would not help the Fire Nation bring order to the world."

Azula lashed out at statue. Her flames sliced through the statue, from the left shoulder to the right side. The top half fell to the ground and shattered. Azula turned to the stunned and horrified Katara. "You keep on claiming that I'm the Avatar. That I'm going to defeat the Fire Nation. But you don't know anything about me!" Azula laughed. "I don't want to defeat the Fire Nation. I _want_ them to win the war! Why would I of all people, be the Avatar?"

"I don't know why, I just know that you are."

"Then what's to stop me from winning the war for the Fire Nation?"

"I don't know. But you were chosen to be the Avatar for a reason."

"I'm leaving. If your not back at the platform when I get there, then you better have your own way down."

At that moment, they all heard the sounds of movement. Someone was coming. The three teens moved behind two of the statues. Sokka and Katara behind one, Azula behind an other. Azula couldn't be sure who it was. It could be her brother and his men. If they had managed to repair their ship, they easily could have caught up with them. Which was a major problem if it was him or a Fire Nation officer. Then again, it could easily be some hermit or someone living in this old temple.

Sokka pulled out his club while Azula raised her hand, holding a small blue flame.

The figure entered the room. Both Sokka and Azula leaped from their hiding places, ready to strike...

...Only to find a small lemur staring back at them.

"Stupid pest." Azula muttered, extinguishing her fire. She turned to Katara. "Are you satisfied now? Or are you going to have us search for a few more hours?"

Suddenly, someone whistled from the doorway. Azula turned towards door. "You!"

* * *

Zhao's Tent

Southern Fire Nation Naval Base

Zhao reentered the tent. Zuko and his uncle there, under guard by several of Zhao's soldiers. "My search party is ready. Once I'm out to sea, my guards will escort you back to your ship and you'll be free to go." he said to his two 'guests'.

Zuko's eyes narrowed. "Why? Are you worried that I'm going to try to stop you?"

Zhao laughed at the banished Prince's words. "You stop me? Impossible."

Zuko scowled, rushing from his seat. "Don't underestimate me Zhao. I will capture the Avatar before you."

Iroh rose to his feet as well. "Prince Zuko, that's enough." he said, trying to stop his nephew from doing something stupid.

"You can't compete with me. I have hundreds of warships under my command. And you, you're just a banished Prince. No home. No allies. Your own father doesn't even want you." Zhao shot back, hitting a very sensitive nerve for Zuko.

"You're wrong!" he shouted. "Once I deliver the Avatar to my father, he will welcome me home with honor and restore my rightful place on the throne."

"If your father really wanted you back, he would have let you return by now, Avatar or no Avatar." the Commander replied. "But in his eyes, you are a failure and a disgrace to the Fire Nation."

"That's not true!"

"You have the scar to prove it."

"Maybe you'd like one to match!"

Zhao raised an eyebrow. "Is that a challenge?"

"An Agni Kai. At sunset." Zuko answered, stating his terms.

Zhao smirked. "Very well. It's a shame your father won't be here to watch me humiliate you. I guess your uncle will do."

With that, Zhao left the tent.

"Prince Zuko. Have you forgot what happened last time you battled a master?" Iroh asked his nephew, deeply concerned.

"I will never forget." the Prince replied, remembering _that_ Agni Kai.

* * *

Southern Air Temple

Standing in the doorway, behind the lemur, was same Air Nomad boy from before. Azula scowled. "What are you doing here? Why did you lead me here?"

"Ah... Who are you talking?" Sokka asked.

Azula glanced at Sokka. "Him! In the doorway." she said, gesturing at the doorway.

"There's no one there, Azula." Katara said, staring at the firebender with concern.

Azula couldn't believe what she was hearing. "What are you talking about? There's a boy right there with the lemur." she insisted.

Katara shook her head. "No. There isn't."

"They can't see me, Azula." the boy said. "Only those in tune with the Spirit World, or the Avatar, can see me."

Azula turned back to the boy. "You're lying."

"No, I'm not. You are the Avatar. To deny it, will only lead to your downfall and the world's downfall."

Azula began to vigorously shake her head. "No. No... You're lying." she said, her voice becoming panicked.

The spirit sighed. "Azula, I know this is difficult for you to accept, but you are the Avatar. Everyone knows it. Even you, deep down, know it."

"No! I am not the Avatar! I don't _want_ to be the Avatar!" she shouted, all trace of her normal confidence and arrogance was gone. "I am Fire Princess Azula! Not Avatar Azula!!"

"It is your destiny, Azula. One can try to resist it, but one cannot escape it. You are the Avatar. Master of the Four Elements. The one to stop the Fire Nation and restore the balance to the world."

"SHUT UP!!" Azula screamed, throwing a fireball at the Air Nomad.

The fireball passed through the boy and continued down the hall. "You can't hurt me Azula. I'm already dead. You saw it." the spirit said.

"That was dream! It wasn't real!"

"Than how do you explain how the temple in your dream matches this temple? Or how my remains are lying the same spot where you died in the dream?" he asked.

Azula began to break down. Her eyes watering. This wasn't what she wanted! She was Azula, Princess of the Fire Nation. Heir to the throne. The favored child of Fire Lord Ozai. Destined to one day become Fire Lord. But now... Now everything had been taken from her. Her title. Her future. Her father had even tossed her aside like Zuko. No, her fate was worse than Zuko's. He still had a chance to redeem himself. To prove himself worthy in their father's eyes. While she was now an enemy to her own nation. The full realization of what had happened had finally sunken in. She truly had nothing now. Azula fell to her hands and knees. The control she had once held over her emotions collapsed. Emotions that she had once kept tightly locked and secured in the back of her mind were pouring out like water from a bursting dam. Anger, sorrow, and fear overwhelmed her. "No... You're wrong...you're all wrong... I'm not the Avatar...I can't be..." she said, her voice quiet and scared.

The spirit bowed his head. "I'm sorry." he quietly said. "There is someone else that wishes to speak to you, to help you. But he cannot at the moment. You must get to the Fire Temple on Crescent Island on the day of the Winter Solstice." He then started to fade away. "Oh, and there is something that will help you out in more ways than one."

And with that, the spirit was gone, leaving Azula and the two siblings alone. Both Katara and Sokka were completely unsure of what had just happened and what they should do. Hisaki affectionately rubbed up against Azula's arm, trying to comfort the girl.

"Are you alright, Azula?" Katara asking, kneeling down next to the girl.

Azula didn't look up. "...I don't want to be here anymore."

"Alright." Katara said, rubbing the firebender's back. "We're leaving."

* * *

A Short While Later

The three teens made their way back towards the lift that had brought them there. Katara and her brother said little since they had left the chamber. Azula, on the other other hand, hadn't said a word. Her face was pale and bore a defeated expression while her eyes were devoid of life. Katara was deeply worried about her. She wasn't sure what Azula had spoken to and what it said, but she could tell that it had deeply affected her. Katara could only wonder what going on in the firebender's mind.

It wasn't long before they reached the lift. But...

"The platform's gone!" Sokka exclaimed as he stared down the empty shaft. "Oh man... How are we suppose to get down now?"

Katara didn't have a clue either. They were on top of a mountain. It was unlikely that they'd be able to climb down the mountain. Unless there was another lift like this one, they weren't going anywhere.

"The spirit said that there was something here that could help us." Azula said in a monotone, staring at the ground.

"Really, what?"

"I don't know."

"Well, then I guess we should spread out and see what we can find."

* * *

Later

Sokka entered a room. It appeared to been an old dormitory. But like the rest of the temple, it was serious disrepair. There were old beds, many broken, their bedding rotting from the elements. Several shelves were along the walls of the room, but some had collapsed, spilling their contents on the ground.

"Well, there's nothing here." Sokka said to himself.

But the Water Tribe teen wasn't alone. The lemur from earlier had been following him. He ignored it, not realizing that it was eying his pack. Suddenly, it swiftly climbed up his back and dove into his pack. "Hey! Get out of there!" Sokka shouted, trying to pull the pest out of his pack.

The lemur leaped out of his pack, holding a loaf of bread, and raced for a window. Sokka lunged at the small creature as it stood in the window. But the lemur jumped, causing Sokka to fall out the window.

"AAAAAAAGH!!!" he screamed as he fell while the lemur glided down.

Fortunately, Sokka landed on a pile of hay. Unfortunately, it let out a loud bellow as he landed on it.

* * *

"AAAAAAAGH!!!"

Katara froze when she heard the scream. It was Sokka. He was in trouble. Katara took off, heading in the direction of the scream, hoping he was alright. It wasn't long before she heard more of Sokka's screams and loud animal bellows.

When she reached him, she was surprised by what she saw. Sokka was on the back of a six legged, large furry creature, desperately clinging on the creature's back as it thrashed and bucked, trying to throw him off.

For a moment, Katara was speechless. "Are you alright?" she finally asked.

"Am I alright?! Do I look alright?!!" Sokka exclaimed as held onto the creature. "I'm hanging on for dear life here!"

"Why don't you just let go? I'm pretty sure that thing just wants you off it's back." Katara replied. "It will probably leave you alone if you get off it."

"How do I know that it won't eat then?!"

"Well, eventually you're going to get tired and it will throw you off." Katara pointed out. "Wouldn't make more sense to let go now, while you still have the strength to run?"

"Oh... I hadn't thought about that."

Sokka let go, flying off the creature's back and crashing into an old stack of boxes. "Sokka!" Katara shouted.

But before she could rush to her brother's side, the creature turned to her, stomping it's feet and looking very, very angry. It let out another angry bellow, intending to charge her.

_CRACK!!_

A crimson fire whip struck the ground in front of the creature. Azula appeared, a fire whip in each hand. It wasn't lost on Katara that Azula's fire had reverted back to a normal color, nor that Azula just seemed to be going through the motions, devoid of any expression. Azula lashed out again, hitting the ground in front of the beast, forcing back. Katara took the chance to get to her brother. "Sokka, are you alright?"

"Look at all the flying monkeys." a very dazed Sokka said, obvious to everything that was happening.

Katara looked over her brother. Aside from some cuts and bruises, he appeared to be fine. She glanced back at Azula and the beast. Azula had backed it into a corner. The creature let out a roar, but stayed back.

It was then that Katara noticed it, a piece of wood sticking into it's right middle leg. The beast was injured. That's why it was being so violent. "Azula, it's injured. Let me see if I can treat it."

Azula stopped, but didn't extinguish the whips. Katara slowly and carefully approached the injured beast. The creature tensed. Katara raised her hands, trying to show that she wasn't a threat. "I'm not going to hurt you." she said in a reassuring tone.

Katara moved towards the piece of wood. Her fingers wrapped around the wood and she gave it one big tug, pulling it free from the beast. The creature groaned. The wound wasn't too bad. She could treat it. She pulled out her first-aid supplies from her pack.

A few minutes later, the wound was bandaged. The creature turned it's head to Katara and licked her with it's tongue. "You're welcome." she said, wiping the saliva off of her before turning to Azula. "So... what exactly is this?"

"A flying bison, I believe." Azula answered, her voice still monotone. "I've read in books of Air Nomads riding large, flying beasts. There were stories of great sky battles between the last of the wyvern riders and the Air Nomads atop their bison."

"So thing can fly?" Katara asked.

"Yes."

"Then we can use it to get off the mountain."

"I suppose."

A short while later, they had found an old saddle and mounted it on Sora, as Katara named the bison. Sokka climbed onto Sora's head and tied some rope around his horns, creating a makeshift reins. Behind him, Katara and Azula climbed onto the saddle. But they weren't alone. The lemur scurried up Sora as well and started rummaging again, looking for more food. "Hey! Get out of there!" Sokka shouted, trying to scare off the lemur.

"Don't be like that. He's just hungry." Katara said, scolding her brother.

"It's because of that pest that I fell out of a window and nearly broke my neck!"

Katara reached out and grabbed the lemur, petting it as she set it on her lap. "But if he hadn't done that, you wouldn't have landed on Sora and we may not have found him." she pointed out. "If anything you should thank him."

Sokka grumbled and turned around. "Up." he said, pulling on the reins.

Nothing happened.

Sokka pulled harder on the reins. "Come on! Go! Fly! Take off! Move!"

Sora grunted, but didn't move. Sokka screamed, wildly pulling on the reins.

"Maybe you should ask nicely?" Katara suggested.

Sokka rolled his eyes. "Up please." he said in a deadpan voice.

Sora started moving, taking a few steps before taking off into the air.

Katara glanced over at Azula. She was sitting with arms wrapped around her legs. "Are you alright Azula? Do you want to talk about it?"

"No."

"You'll feel better if you-"

"No."

Katara had a feeling that Azula wouldn't want to talk after what happened, though she had hoped that she would be wrong. But didn't look like that was the case. "Alright then, where are going next?" she asked, changing subjects.

Azula didn't say anything.

Katara turned to Sokka. "I guess we should first head back to the boat and get the rest of the supplies and check the map."

Sokka nodded, urging Sora downward.

* * *

The Arena

Southern Fire Nation Naval Base

Later

The sun was setting on two groups in the small arena. The first group was a kneeling Commander Zhao and several of his soldiers. Some distance behind Zhao, was Zuko, his back to the Commander and kneeling as well. Zuko's uncle was standing in front of Zuko, giving some advice and encouragement. "Remember your firebending basics, Prince Zuko. They are your greatest weapons."

"I refuse to let him him." Zuko said, standing up and turning to Zhao.

Zhao rose up as well, turning to the Prince. "This will be over quickly."

Both slipped into their stances, waiting the gong to sound. They didn't have to wait long. A soldier hit the arena gong. It had begun.

Zuko struck first, throwing fireballs at Zhao. The Commander sidestepped to the left, dodging the first, then quickly stepped right, avoiding the second. Zhao took the third head on, blocking in with his arms. Zuko threw a fourth, low to the ground. Zhao thrust his hands down, throwing the fire up before he went on the offensive, attacking with own, more powerful fireballs.

Zuko was forced back as he struggled to block and deflect Zhao's fire. Zhao pressed his advantage, taking a step forward with each attack, further pushing Zuko back. Zuko knew that he couldn't hope to overpower Zhao. The man was just too strong. He needed to disrupt Zhao's momentum but he was overwhelmed.

At that moment, Zhao threw a more powerful fireball. Zuko barely managed to block the fire. While he successfully shielded himself from the fire, the force of the impact threw him to the ground. Zhao raised his hand, gathering more fire into his hand. The Fire Nation commander leaped into the air, intending to finish him off. But Zuko was quicker. As Zhao neared the ground, Zuko struck. Twisting his body, kicking Zhao's legs. Knocking Zhao to the ground. The man struggled to get back to his feet as Zuko attacked. Now it was Zhao's turn to be on the ropes as the Prince furiously struck back. Before Zhao could try to counter, Zuko kicked low, his leg sweeping across the ground, tripping the man. Zhao fell to the ground. Zuko stood over him, fire in his hand. It was over. They both knew it. "DO IT!!!" Zhao screamed, ready for his fate.

Zuko attacked... Hitting the ground only a few inches from Zhao's head.

Zhao was stunned. "That's it?!" he asked, pausing for a moment. "Your father raised a coward." he spat back.

"Next time you get in my way, I won't hold back." Zuko replied before walking towards his uncle.

But Zhao wasn't satisfied with what happened. Not only had the banished brat beaten him, but he spared his life as well. A sign of weakness. It gulled him that such a weakling had bested him. He rushed to feet. He was going to take the brat down. Zhao rushed forward and kicked his leg, wreathed in flames, at Zuko.

Suddenly, Iroh appeared in front of him, grabbing his foot and extinguishing

the flames. Realizing what Zhao had just tried, an angry Zuko turned around, intending to attack.

"No Prince Zuko. Do not taint your victory." Iroh said, stopping his nephew. "So this is how the _great_ Commander Zhao acts in defeat. Disgraceful. Even in exile, my nephew is more honorable than you. Thank you again for the tea. It was delicious."

With that, the two left the arena, heading for their ship. "Uncle, did you really mean what you said?" Zuko as they reached the exit of their arena.

"Of course. I told you Ginseng was my favorite."

Zuko couldn't help but smile at his uncle's words.

* * *

Commander Zhao's Flagship, Agni's Fury

An Hour Later

Zhao stood on the bridge of his ship, waiting as his fleet finished it's final preparations. They would be leaving shortly to track down the Avatar. Zhao already had a good idea where Azula would have gone. In all likelihood, she would have headed straight north, to the lands of the extinct Air Nomads. From there, she could easily head northeast, to the southern regions of the Earth Kingdom. Zhao knew that he needed to cut her off. Because if she reached the Earth Kingdom, she could easily hide among the countless refugees. Finding her then would be like finding a needle in a haystack.

But capturing her would be a tremendous victory for him.

Zhao smirked. There was something he had hidden from Zuko and Iroh. The Fire Lord had secretly ordered all of his high-ranking officers that if they captured Azula, they were to her hidden and secret until both she and Zuko could be brought back together, so that Zuko could take the credit and become the Crown Prince again. Ozai was concerned about potential coups against him. If Zuko came back to the Fire Nation with the Avatar in chains, he become a hero of the nation and would cement his position to heir of the throne.

But if someone else brought her back, someone like him, they would become the hero. From lowly commoner to wealthy noble, all view that person as a great hero. And should something happen to the Fire Lord in that situation, many people would want that hero to lead the Fire Nation.

_'Fire Lord Zhao. That has a nice ring to it.'_

* * *

Now, the idea for the Sky Bison, wasn't actually my idea. It was suggested to me by a long time fan, animefan29. Originally, I was just going to have them stay on that boat until they left the North Pole. When I first heard the idea, I didn't really like at first. But it grew on me. Eventually I decided that I would do it.

Next Chapter: The Warriors of Kyoshi

As always, review!


	5. Book 1: Chapter 5

Yo everybody! I'm back. This chapter took a lot longer than I thought it would, for a number of reasons. But it's done and ready.

Now, a lot of people have been asking about Azula's fire and how it's turned back to the normal and original color. A mistake I've seen some writers make. Azula wasn't born with blue flames, they showed her using normal red fire in a flashback. The blue flames are an advanced technique. Now, this a temporary problem of her's, brought on by the events of the last chapter. She will regain her blue flames before the end of the first book.

**Chapter Five: Warriors of Kyoshi**

He silently watched her eat her meal. He wanted her food. Why should she get all that food? Slowly, he crept up on her, eying her food. Soon, he was behind her and she was completely unaware of him. He struck! Jumping onto her, he grabbed her meal and ran. But she was close behind and angry. He jumped over a fireball. Very angry. Suddenly, a great hand shot out, grabbing him and pulling him up.

"Momo. Stop picking on Hisaki." Katara said, holding the lemur. "Give her back her food."

Momo shook his head. In response, Hisaki jumped up and clamped down on his tail. Momo howled, letting go of the bread he had stolen. Hisaki dropped down and picked up the bread with her mouth and walked back towards Azula.

Katara rolled her eyes and sighed. Momo and Hisaki didn't seem to like each other that much. Momo was always picking on her, which usually resulted in Hisaki biting him or trying to blast him with her fire breath. It was getting annoying, and a little dangerous. She had just finished repairing Sokka's pants after he had gotten caught in the crossfire. And her brother was still complaining that he wouldn't be able to sit down right for a week. Despite the superficial nature of his 'injuries'.

She took a glance around at their surroundings. They had reached a small island, somewhere north-east of the Air Temple and set up a campsite in a clearing of trees. They had been travel for about a day and a half since they left the Temple. Not much had changed since then. Azula was still only talking when she needed to. At the moment, Azula was sitting with them, silently eating her lunch.

Katara had tried to get her to open up, to try to help her. But Azula had stubbornly refused to speak. Katara knew that the world needed the Avatar more than ever. Azula needed to accept her destiny.

Suddenly, a group of people dropped from the trees. Both Sokka and Azula jumped to their feet, ready to defend themselves. But they were too fast. One warrior grabbed Sokka from behind, restraining his arms as they blindfolded him and tied him up. Katara was next. She had just seen a warrior her brother when one grabbed her from behind too.

Azula on the other hand, was not about to go down without a fire. She kicked the warrior that tried to sneak up on her and then threw fireball at another. The warrior pulled out a metal fan waved it, deflecting the fireball. Azula followed up with two more fireballs. Again, the warrior deflected the fireballs, but as they deflected the second one, Azula kicked her in face. Knocking the warrior to the ground.

Unfortunately, there were a lot more warriors ready to attack her. But Azula wasn't about to go down without a fight. She managed to take down five more warriors before they overwhelmed her, and then tied her up and blindfolded her.

They shoved her to the ground, alongside Katara, Sokka, and in a pair of tied sacks, Hisaki, with a rope tied around her mouth, and Momo. Satisfied that none of them were going anywhere, they picked them up and carried them back to their village, not particularly caring about the comfort of their prisoners. Especially Azula. Soon, the group reached their village and the tied their three human captives to the statue of Avatar Kyoshi. The warriors removed their blindfolds as the Village Chief arrived.

"We know you are Fire Nation. Speak. Why have come to our island?" the Village Chief demanded.

"Whoa whoa whoa. Hang on there. She's Fire Nation." Sokka said, gesturing his shoulders and head toward Azula. "Me and my sister are from the Water Tribe."

"So you're either slaves or supporting the Fire Nation. Why are you here?" the leader of the warriors replied.

"We're just travelers heading north. We weren't even aware that there was a village on this island. We mean no harm to your village." Katara explained.

"Yeah. You're men didn't have to attack us and tie us up." Sokka added.

The lead warrior smirked. "We were the ones that attacked you and tied you up."

Sokka laughed. "Yeah right. No way we could have beaten by a bunch of girls."

Azula kicked him for his comment. "Excuse him, he's an idiot." she politely said.

"Hey-Ow!"

Azula cleared her throat. While she could burn through the ropes quite easily, she would still be at a disadvantage. The warriors outnumbered by a fair amount, and two Water Tribe peasants weren't warriors by any means. Katara was only novice waterbender, and her brother...well, was an idiot. If she had Mai and Ty Lee with her, they would more than able to dispatch with these warriors and any that were in the village at the moment. If they were to make it though this, it would be with diplomacy. "We are not spies. If we were spies, would we not be disguised as simple traders or travelers? Certainly, we wouldn't be wearing anything with Fire Nation colors or emblems. And look at the quality of my clothes. What do they look like to you?"

The Chief moved up close to her, inspecting her clothes. "They are of a very fine quality." he admitted.

"Would a simple traveler be wearing such clothes?"

"No. I suppose not." the Chief said. "But Fire Nation nobility would. Who are you and why are you here?"

"It's just as she said. We're just traveling north." Azula answered. "Who we are is unimportant."

"Perhaps, perhaps not. If you will not tell us who you are, then we will throw you to the unagi." the warrior leader said.

"You can't!" Katara exclaimed. "She's the Avatar!"

"The Avatar? Don't make me laugh." the Village Chief said. "The Avatar is an airbender. The last of them."

"I can't explain it either. But I've seen her bend water with my own eyes." Katara argued.

The warrior stared at Katara for a moment, then turned to Azula for moment, before turning back to the waterbender. "Prove it then. If she is the Avatar, she should be able to bend at least two elements. We've already seen her bend fire, so if see can bend water, we'll let you go."

Azula's eyes widened in surprise. "What?"

The chief nodded. "Yes. If she can bend two elements, than she is the Avatar and we will let you all go. However, if she cannot, you will all be thrown to the unagi."

Both Katara and Sokka gulped.

"Untie the girl." the lead warrior ordered.

Two of her fellow warriors removed the ropes binding Azula. "Hey! What about us?" Sokka asked.

"You two will remained tied up. The two of you could be waterbenders and could help her trick us." one of the warriors replied.

The Village Chief, the leader of the warriors, and about half of the warriors escorted her to a stream running beside the village. "Here you. All the water you could need." the lead warrior said as she and her comrades took up defensive positions around.

Azula held her hands over the water. She felt ridiculous. Everyone watching her, seeing if she was who Katara claimed she was. She could try to fight them now. There was a good possibility that she could take them all. The question was, could she do it fast enough before the other half moved in and could she make it back to Sora to escape in time. It was risky, but it was her best option. She'd fake that she was trying to bend, then attack. She closed her eyes, in deep concentration. It appeared as though she was focusing on bending the water. In reality, she was preparing to attack. She slowly raised her hands.

What happened next surprised her and everyone else.

Azula heard gasps behind her. "It's true..." a very stunned Village Chief said.

He wasn't the only one. "I don't believe it..." the warrior leader added, equally stunned.

Azula opened her eyes. In front of her, a small tendril of water had risen out of the stream. It was thin and shaking. All and all, a truly pathetic example of waterbending, but it was waterbending. Azula was shocked, her hands dropping to her sides. The water fell back into the stream.

"You truly are the Avatar."

* * *

Word quickly spread across the village. A new Avatar had arisen. But they weren't the only ones. There were several traders and fishermen that had stopped at Kyoshi, who heard this. When they left, they passed onto their villages and towns. Over the following days and weeks, the word would spread across the southern Earth Kingdom. Then soon, the entire nation.

Hope was returning to the people.

* * *

Azula sighed as she sat down on rock on the beach. It had been a couple days since they had come to Kyoshi Island. They had stayed for a couple of reasons. First, it was a fairly safe place to hide out. Kyoshi was a small island, in the middle of nowhere. Second, other than Zuko, no one knew that she had left the South Pole. Likely, they were scouring the South Pole for her right now. And Zuko wasn't about to reveal that she had left. He needed to capture her himself, or he'd never be able to return home.

Also, Water Boy had wanted to stay for awhile so he could train under Suki and her Kyoshi Warriors. At first, she hadn't felt like indulging him. But then she saw him wearing the uniform and make-up of the Kyoshi Warriors. She decided that it was worth it to stay a few days.

Azula tensed, hearing someone approaching. She glanced over shoulder, and breathed a sigh of relief. "Hi." Katara greeted.

Azula nodded. She was relieved that it wasn't another villager. They were always praising her, treating her with a great deal of respect, and practically worshiping the ground she walked on. And the young men and boys of the village were always trying to impress her with all kinds of feats of strength or some equally ridiculous.

Truthfully, she had grown sick of all the attention very quickly. Normally, she loved that kind of attention. ...But now she just wanted alone, away from these people. To be somewhere quiet, where she could escape from the rest of the world and horrible twist her life had taken. A part of her longed to be on Ember Island again. The only place that she felt that her mother-No! She washed her hands of that woman along time ago. She wouldn't start thinking about her now.

"So how are you doing?" Katara asked as she sat down next to Azula.

"Just trying to stay clear of those annoying boys that are trying to woo me with whatever dumb stunt that can think up." Azula dryly replied.

Katara chuckled. "They're just trying to impress you."

"Hmph. They should just stop. I have no interest in them."

"I'm sure they'll give up eventually."

"Somehow, I highly doubt that."

* * *

Agni's Fury

Commander Zhao scowled as watched the horizon from the tower of his flagship. They had been at sea, searching for Azula, for nearly a week with no results. It had become infuriating. The riverboat that Azula had taken was too small for major ocean travel. So she would have had to travel either north-east, directly into the southern tip of the Earth Kingdom and their patrols, or north, to the lands of the dead Air Nomads and then travel north-east along that chain of islands.

Naturally, she would have taken the latter. In addition, such a trip would have taken days aboard a small boat like that. And Zhao had ordered all of the Captains under him to keep their crews on high alert, especially at night, when could sneak past the ships. They should have spotted her by now.

An officer stepped out onto the lookout deck. "Sir. Another report has arrived." the man said, presenting with a message scroll.

Zhao broke the scroll's seal and unrolled it, his eyes scanning the paper. A moment later, it burst into flames in his hands. Yet _another_ report stating that they hadn't found even a trace of the Avatar. Zhao slammed his fists in frustration on the guard rail of the deck. Azula was clearly no fool. She was out there, hiding. "Send a message to the fleet." he ordered. "Tell them to begin searching the islands for any sign of her." The soldier nodded and was about to leave, when Zhao continued speaking. "What is the name of that nearby inhabited island?"

"Kyoshi, sir."

"Set course for it. We'll search there first."

* * *

Kyoshi Island

Azula and Katara had spent awhile on the beach, talking for bit, before they decided to head back to the village. They had just reached the village when someone shouted, "Fire Nation! A Fire Nation ship is coming!"

Azula cursed. Zuko must have figured out their path. Or their uncle had helped him. Either way, they needed to hide.

"There you are." Suki said, approaching the pair with her warriors and Sokka, still

wearing their uniform and make-up. "We need to hide you before they arrive."

Fortunately, the huts of the village were raised, in case of flooding in spring, and during the winter, the snow piled up around the huts, covering up the space between the ground and the hut. Providing an excellent place to hide. But they weren't the only ones. The children of the village were divided into two groups. One with Katara, hiding under one hut, while Azula and Sokka under another with the other group. All three teens were able to watch what was happening through a narrow opening between the hut floor and the top of the snow bank.

A several dozen Fire Nation soldiers entered the village. Azula's eyes widened. There were far too many for it to be her brother. Then she saw who was leading them.

Commander Zhao.

Suki, some of her warriors, and the Village Chief, Oyaji, approached the group. "Why have you come to Kyoshi Island?" Oyaji asked.

"We are simply searching for a Fire Nation fugitive." Zhao replied, raising his hand. A soldier handed him a scroll. He unrolled it, revealing a sketch of Azula. "Have you seen this girl?"

Oyaji shook his head. "No. Fire Nation people do not come here. Normally."

"Then you won't mind us searching your village, just in case."

"No." Oyaji said. "Search to your heart's content."

"Search the huts." Zhao ordered. "If you find anything suspicious, bring it to me."

The Fire Nation soldiers spread out, systematically entering the huts, searching them for anything. One by one, the huts were searched, drawing closer to the ones they were hiding in. Two soldiers entered the hut they were under as another two entered the hut Katara was hiding under. Suddenly, they all heard a child's cry. It had come from the hut Katara was hiding under. It was quickly followed by the sounds of someone smashing wood and more cries from children. A few moments later, the soldier emerged from the hut, holding Katara. She fought with them as she was brought before Zhao.

One of Zhao's hands grasped Katara's collar, lifting the Water Tribe girl off her feet. "Now why is a Water Tribe wench here, in the Earth Kingdom?"

Sokka started to move, but Azula grabbed him by the collar, stopping him. "Idiot." she whispered to him. "What will that accomplish?"

"I-I...I'm just a traveler. I'm heading north. To the Earth Kingdom." Katara said.

Zhao raised an eyebrow. "Oh? And where are you heading to in the Earth Kingdom?"

"Ah...Omashu."

"And why would you be heading there?"

"In search of my family." Katara lied, hoping he would by it. "While I was visiting my aunt's village, the Fire Nation attacked my village and my family disappeared. I couldn't find them among the villages of the South Pole, so I decided to head north, to see if they had fled to the Earth Kingdom."

Zhao let Katara go, seemingly satisfied with her answer. "Very well then." he said, walking away from the girl. Azula quietly breathed out a sigh of relief. Zhao had bought it.

Suddenly, Zhao stopped and glanced back at Katara. "Oh by the way, where is your boat?"

Katara, Azula and Sokka froze, their faces becoming pale. A single thought entered Azula's mind. _'He knew she was lying from the start...'_

Zhao smirked at Katara's reaction. "That fool Zuko said that a boy and a girl from the Water Tribe had left with Azula. So, why don't you tell me how you really came to this island and where Azula is."

Katara's entire demeanor changed. Going from fearful to defiant. "No. You won't find her." she said. "She's probably already gone."

"Perhaps, you're right. But I better make sure, just in case." Zhao turned to one of his officers. "Burn the village."

The instant Zhao said those words, the Kyoshi warriors attacked. Suki struck, delivering an uppercut to one soldier as another rushed at her with a spear. Suki spun towards the soldier, she sidestepped the soldier's spear and kicked the man in the face. She then turned her attention to Zhao himself. A pair of Kyoshi warriors jumped up, kicking two Fire Nation soldiers into a group of their comrades. A soldier roared as he swung his sword down on one of the female warriors. The girl grabbed his sword arm as it dropped, and using his momentum, threw the man. More Kyoshi warriors, hidden on the roofs of the huts, revealed themselves, leaping onto the soldiers.

The warriors of Kyoshi were skilled and fought bravely. But the Fire Nation soldiers outnumbered them and had firebenders at their disposal. One of the female warriors let out a scream as a fireball slammed into her back and collapsed. A pair of her comrades appeared at her side, defending her any further attacks. A firebender threw a series of punches, sending several blasts of fire at another Kyoshi warrior. The girl waved her metal fans at each fireball, deflecting them. But as she deflected the last of blasts, the firebender struck low. The girl was caught completely off guard. The fire slammed into her legs, knocking her off of her feet and sending her face first into the ground.

However, there was something that many of combatants didn't seem to realize, most of the deflected or missed attacks of the firebenders had hit the huts. Needless to say, the wooden buildings began to burn.

Suki rolled across the ground, evading twin streams of fire from Zhao. She then leaped up, striking at Zhao with her leg. But Zhao grabbed her leg with one hand. "Hmph. Do you really think that you can defeat me, girl?" he said with a smirk.

But Suki could reply, Zhao threw her, slamming her in the side of a hut. At that moment, Sokka rushed out of his hiding place and Suki's side. Zhao raised his hands, intending to incinerating the two. "Another pathetic Kyoshi wench. You seem to grow like weeds."

Zhao struck, sending a jet of fire at the two. But just as it was halfway there, a wall of fire emerged just in front of Sokka and Suki. Zhao's fire impacted the wall, sparing the two. Zhao's eyes widened. "I thought you were looking for me, Zhao, not picking on a bunch of peasants."

The three of them turned towards the voice. Zhao smirked. "Azula. It looks like it's my lucky day." he said, slipping into a fighting stance. "Men! Wipe out the rest of the village, but leave Azula for me."

Azula didn't say anything as moved into her own stance. Zhao attacked first, throwing fire at the female firebender. Azula flipped into the air, one leg deflecting the fire with a kick, the other following with another kick, sending a jet of crimson fire at her opponent. Zhao pulled up his arms, blocking her attack. Azula followed with more strikes. But Zhao blocked each and everyone of them.

"Where's your famed blue fire, Avatar? Whenever anyone spoke of you, they always mention your blue fire." Zhao said. "So why aren't you using it?"

"Against you? Don't make me laugh." Azula shot back. "You're not worth the effort. My brother's more of a challenge than you."

Zhao scowled at those words, remembering his humiliating defeat at the hands of the banished prince. "If your attacks are any indication, then you'll need to use your blue fire if expect to stand a chance against me." he said before launching a series punches, fire shooting off his fists at her.

Azula struggled to deflect the powerful blasts of fire. She knew Zhao's style. Raw, overwhelming power. Simple, but effective. Unfortunately for her, Azula couldn't overpower him. She needed to keep moving. However, that would prove to be difficult in the confines of the village and the ongoing fight between the Kyoshi warriors and Zhao's men.

Azula rolled, dodging one of Zhao's blasts before firing back with one of her own. But Zhao blocked it. The man smirked. "Is that the best you have?"

Azula scowled. This didn't make sense. Zhao was a strong bender, but not that strong. Even with her diminished firebending, she should have been able to hit him. Unless her abilities had been weakened far more than she believed.

Zhao slammed his foot down and thrust his fist forward with all his might. Azula pulled up a fire shield. Her shield took the attack. Zhao continued his assault, throwing more powerful fire blasts. They slammed into Azula's shield, one after another, pushing her back. Until the fourth blast hit. The shield took the worst of the blast, but collapsed under the strain. Azula was thrown back by the impact. She managed to land on her feet.

But Zhao didn't give her a chance to rest. Azula found herself diving, flipping and rolling to evade his attacks. While she was an excellent acrobat, Azula knew she wouldn't be able to keep this up for long. She was running out of options. She had to use _it_. Her trump card.

Azula stopped, her arms moving in circular motions. Lightning coursing across her hands and forearms, surprising Zhao. Just as she thought, Zhao had no idea about lightning, but he wasn't taking any chances, gathering fire in his hand. She struck, the lighting shooting from her fingertips, Zhao threw a huge fireball as he rolled out of the path of the lightning. The instant the lightning left Azula's fingers, she collapsed to her knees, breathing heavily. Not since the first time she ever preformed the technique, had it been that taxing on her. The lightning bolt and the fireball hit each other and exploded, knocking both combatants back.

Zhao got to his feet, dusting himself off. Azula, on the other hand, tied to climb to her feet, but failed. She had pinned everything on her lightning, and failed. Her body was just too drained. It was all over. She was as good as dead. Because she _failed_. Her whole life, both she and her father, had pushed her to be perfect. But last few days of her life had been a complete mockery of everything had shrived for. Now it would end with the ultimate insult.

"Pathetic." Zhao said, standing over Azula. "I had thought that the famed prodigy daughter of Fire Lord Ozai would be more of a challenge. I guess the stories of your abilities were exaggerated."

Azula looked up at him. "Finish it already. I can't stand the sound of your voice." Azula replied in a deadpan tone, ready for her fate.

"No. You're not going to die. Yet." the Commander replied. "The Fire Lord wants your execution to be public. To shatter the last dregs of hope for those who oppose the Fire Nation."

Azula bowed her head. In all honesty, Azula wasn't too surprised by that. She knew her father. She would be just another example for the masses, that they shouldn't oppose her father or the Fire Nation. She was now just an enemy to her father. The man who had praised her countless times for abilities, had taught her and trained her to follow in his footsteps, now wanted her dead. Azula clenched her fists tightly, her nails cutting into her palms as she fought back tears. Her whole family hated her now. She and Zuko had never gotten along. Her own mother thought she was a monster. And her father sought to have her executed. Azula's own flesh and blood didn't want her. She even began questioning her relationship with the only people that she could consider close to her. Ty Lee and Mai. Did they actually care about her? Or was it all just a ploy to gain favor for their families? Was she just a pawn, a tool, a monster, to everyone?

Zhao reached out to grab Azula, when suddenly Hisaki appeared at Azula's side, breathing out a small jet of fire at Zhao's hand. "GAAAH!!!" Zhao screamed, pulling back his burnt right hand.

The Fire Nation commander quickly turned his attention from his burnt right hand to the wyvern. "Stupid pest." he growled, grabbing the small creature with his good hand.

The instant he did, Azula looked up, glaring at him. "Let her go."

Hisaki had been the only good thing in an otherwise wretched series of events. And was the only one that she could be sure actually cared for her. Azula would not let Zhao do anything to her.

"Oh? This little vermin means something to you?" Zhao chuckled. "Look at you. Caring about this _thing_. Traveling with two Water Tribe brats." Zhao laughed even harder. "You're a worse disgrace than Zuko."

Hisaki shrieked as Zhao tightened his grip. Somehow, Azula managed to get up to her feet. "Leave her alone!"

"Or what? You've lost already. This village will burn and it's people will be disposed of. And you will return, in chains, to the homeland, where you will die."

Azula gritted her teeth together. She wanted nothing more than to kill Zhao. To incinerated him in a single blast of fire. For what he was doing to her pet and to take out all of her anger and frustration on him. But she wasn't a fool. Her bending ability had been seriously weakened ever since the Air Temple. She couldn't even seem to be able to use her blue fire anymore. And Azula doubted that she could actually create a fire at the moment.

Hisaki coughed out another stream of fire at Zhao. But this time, the Commander was ready for her. Zhao let go her as the first flames left her mouth and the wyvern fell to the ground. He then raised his foot over her, intending to stop on her.

At that moment, Azula felt a surge of immense power flowing through her body. It was overwhelming, seemingly pushing her consciousness aside. "_I said... leave her... __**ALONE**__!!"_ she shouted as darkness claimed her.

Zhao, Katara, Sokka, Suki and everyone else still in the village, stopped what they were doing, staring at Azula, who's eyes were now glowing white. Azula rose a few feet off the ground and turned towards the stream that ran next to the village, her hands reaching out and grasping the air. The water rose up from the stream, coming towards Azula. Once the water was circling round her, Azula waved her left arm. Half of the water shot out, extinguishing many of the fires burning across the village.

"Attack! Attack her!!" Zhao ordered.

The firebender attacked as one. Fire streaked towards the girl. Azula raised her hands towards her body. A dome of water surrounded her. The fire hit the dome, only to fizzle out. Then, with a thrust of her arm, a blast of water struck one group of firebenders, throwing them back. More water lashed out, striking down more soldiers and firebenders.

Zhao scowled as he watched his men drop like flies under Azlua's attacks. His prize was slipping away from him. He needed to do something before it was gone. Seeing Azula distracted by his men, Zhao moved behind her, a growing ball of fire in his hands.

While Azula didn't notice him, someone else did. "Azula! Look out!" Katara shouted.

Azula spun around, facing the Fire Nation commander. Zhao roared, throwing everything he had into one attack. Azula responded by gathering up all of the water she had been using and throwing at him. Fire and water met, creating a geyser of steam. For a few moments, they seemed evenly matched. But in the end, the water won out, extinguishing Zhao's fire, surging towards the firebender. The water slammed into Zhao's chest, throwing him back through a space between two huts. He rolled across the ground before stopping.

Zhao climbed to his feet. His men were beaten and as much as gulled him, he knew that he could not defeat her, in her current state, by himself. "We're leaving!" he shouted. "Retreat!"

With that, Zhao and his men fled, heading back to their ship. He may have lost this battle, but Zhao knew that Azula wouldn't be able to leave Kyoshi Island without him knowing. And within an hour or two, his entire fleet would have the small island blockaded and ready to attack. If she ran, his ship would be more than able to catch her. If she stayed, he'd attack with everything he had at his disposal.

Either way, he would win.

Once the last Fire Nation soldier left the village, Azula fell to the ground, the glow fading from her eyes. When the glow completely faded, Azula's limp body collapsed onto her hands and knees. Azula blinked a few times before she remembered that she was in the middle of a battle with Zhao. She tried to get to her feet, but found herself drained. It was then that she realized that Zhao and his men were gone.

"Are you alright?" Katara asked, offering her a hand up.

Azula was in no mood to refuse her help. "Tied, but I'll be fine." she answered, taking the waterbender's hand. "What happened? Where's Zhao and his men?"

Katara helped Azula get to her feet. "You defeated them."

"What? How? I don't remember doing that."

"Well, Zhao was hurting Hisaki when your eyes started glowing. You then used waterbending against Zhao and his men." Katara explained.

"Yeah. You should have Zhao's face when you hit him with all that water." Sokka added as he helped Suki to her feet.

Azula didn't say anything as she picked up Hisaki. Zhao was gone, but he wasn't about to give up. Undoubtedly, Zhao was gathering more ships and soldiers. She had to get off the island before that happened. "I'm leaving." she announced, walking away from the group.

"Wait. What about the village?"

"Zhao doesn't care about this place. He's after me. When he sees me leave, he'll follow."

"Wait for us, we're coming too."

"Fine. But I'm not waiting around." Azula said, walking away from them. "So if you're not ready when I am, I'll leave without you."

* * *

Katara glanced around, looking for Azula. They had nearly finished loading the supplies onto Sora, but they couldn't find Azula anywhere. "Azula." she called out.

"In here." a voice replied from Oyaji's hut.

Azula stepped out of the Chief's hut. Katara was surprised at the sight of her. Azula had removed her Fire Nation clothes, replacing the black and crimson clothing for the simple blue of the villagers of Kyoshi. In her hands, was her old clothes and a knife. Azula turned to Katara and set down her clothes. "I need you to cut my hair."

Katara blinked a few times. "You want me to what?"

"Cut my hair." Azula answered, pulling out the crimson Fire Nation headpiece and undoing her hair. Azula's long dark hair rolled down her shoulders. "The people hunting us know what I look like. That's why I'm trying to change my appearance as much as possible."

Of course, she didn't mention that would be plenty of people in the Earth Kingdom that would love nothing more than to extract vengeance on a Fire Nation noble as well. Especially the daughter of the Fire Lord, even if she was now an enemy of the Fire Nation.

Azula handed Katara the knife and knelt down. "Any style in particular?" the waterbender asked.

"Just short and plain." Azula replied. "I need to look like a commoner as much as possible."

Katara nodded, starting to cut Azula's hair. "So, you can bend lightning as well." she commented.

"It's a master-level firebending technique. Few know of it. Even fewer can preform it." Azula explained. "I knew that it was unlikely that Zhao had ever heard of such a technique. Which gave me a distinct advantage."

"It didn't look like it worked."

"No. It didn't." Azula admitted. "For some reason, it left me as drained as I was the first time I attempted to create lightning." Azula then added in a quiet tone, "Worse, my firebending is only a fraction of what it was."

"Is that why your fire is no longer blue?" Katara asked, cutting a lock of hair off.

"...Yes."

After that, neither girl spoke until Katara was done.

* * *

"There. Done." Sokka said, putting the last of the supplies onto Sora's saddle.

Both Hisaki and Momo were already on the saddle. Surprisingly, they weren't fighting for once.

"Sokka." Suki called out as she approached the boy.

Sokka dropped down from the bison. "Suki. I want to thank you for teaching me, and to say I'm sorry."

"Sorry?"

"I'm sorry for teaching you like a girl when I should have treated you like a warrior."

"I am a warrior." Suki said, kissing Sokka's cheek. "But I'm a girl too."

Sokka's cheeks turned visibly red, even underneath the white make-up he was still wearing. He opened his mouth to say something.

"Have you finished loading the supplies?" a voice asked, cutting him off.

The two turned. "Azula?! Is that you?" asked a surprised Sokka.

Azula was no longer in her normal Fire Nation clothes. Instead, she was wearing the blue clothes of the people of Kyoshi Island. But not only that, her hair had been cut to shoulder length. Even the bangs that framed her face had been trimmed, though not quite as much as the rest of her hair. Azula raised an eyebrow questioningly. "Who do you think it is?"

"It's just that you look like....well, like a girl."

Needless to say, Azula was less than amused by his words. "_What?_"

"No...I-I...I...I didn't mean it like that." Sokka stuttered, realizing what he had just said to the firebender. "I meant that you look like an _ordinary_ girl. The kind you see in any ordinary village."

Azula turned towards Sora, seemingly ignoring him. "We're leaving now."

Sokka nodded, turning away from the group. "Okay. Just give a moment to change."

"No." Azula said, stopping him. "We don't have time for you to change. We're leaving now. Either come with us, or stay. And if come with us, I doubt that you'll have time to change for awhile. _In fact_, you won't even have time to clean that stuff off your face."

"Alright..." a very dejected Sokka said, turning around and climbing atop Sora.

Azula and Katara climbed up atop the bison as well. Azula took the reins. But before she pulled on the ropes, Azula took out her headpiece, her thumb running over it. She needed answers. About everything. And there was only one place she could get those. She was heading home. Or at least, as close as she could get to her home. "Up." she ordered, pulling the reins.

Sora took off, heading up into the sky. "So, where are we going now?" Sokka asked as they rose into the air.

"Crescent Island." Azula answered.

"Where's that?"

"The Fire Nation."

* * *

Now. I don't know when the next chapter will be done, as I'm not sure what that chapter should be. I want to have at least one chapter before Azula's talk with Roku, but I'm not sure what. I could do a visit to Omashu (I am planning to do a visit after it's fallen, but I'm not sure if I want to do one before that). I have plenty of ideas, but they're all for after Azula's talk with Roku.

Suggestions would be very welcomed right now.

As always, review!


	6. Book 1: Chapter 6

Yo everybody! I'm taking a break from what's been my main focus for a while now and working on something different. While I could have worked on anything, it was the review of one Eduard Kassel that ultimate gave me the drive to do this chapter. Unlike the past chapters, this one is entirely of my creation rather than a rewrite of an episode. It is shorter than normal, but it's a two parter after I realized that it was getting a bit too long when I reached the halfway point. And you'll start to see the beginnings of some of my major changes in this chapter and the next one.

**Chapter Six: Chained**

Azula groaned, her whole body was sore and throbbing as she slowly opened her eyes. Before her eyes were the stone ceiling of the room she was in. Azula started to sit up, only to find that she couldn't. Her arms and legs were tightly chained to the four corners of her cell, preventing her from moving them more than half an inch. Future more, her hands and feet were encased in iron, preventing her from bending or trying to pick the locks on the chains. Azula could melt the chains by firebending with her mouth; unfortunately, her arms were being pulled diagonally. If she tried it, her arms would be incinerated in the process. All she could do is lie on the ground and wait until someone could unchain her.

Memories of how she got here began to filter back. Once again she cursed the Water Tribe siblings traveling with her. "Sometimes I wonder why I even let those two fools come with me," she said to herself.

"They're not that bad," a voice said. "And part of you, deep down, finds comfort in having them with you."

A familiar, ghostly blue figure appeared, staring down at her. "You! What are you doing here?! Haven't you tormented me enough?!!" Azula all but screamed at him.

The spirit of the airbender nervously scratched his bald head nervously. "I'm sorry about before, but you needed to accept the facts of who you are before anything else."

"I had _everything_! I was Princess of the Fire Nation! Favored child of Fire Lord Ozai! Heir to the Throne until you ruined everything! I don't want to be the Avatar!"

The airbender's expression saddened, remembering his brief life and its end. "Well…Yeah, I guess I kinda did. I was supposed to leave and learn the other elements, but I didn't want to leave my people when they needed me most and ended up dying alongside them." He then perked up a bit and added, "But I didn't choose you to be born as the Avatar. It just worked out that way. I had no control over when my second successor died and when you were born. The only thing I did was help the others hide the signs of the Avatar's rebirth. Well, rebirths."

"Unless you can free me, _leave_," Azula snarled.

"Right, right, right, I'm getting off topic here. You see, the others asked me to come here because you need guidance and the others have asked me to-"

"I don't need guidance! I _need_ to get out of here!'' she snapped, frustrated at everything that befallen her. "If you're not going to help me with that, then leave me alone!"

"Fine, fine," the spirit said, raising his hands up defensively. "I see you're not quite ready yet. I'll leave, but I will be back. Oh, and by the way, my name is Aang."

With that, the spirit faded away, leaving her alone in the cell. Alone with her thoughts and memories of what had happened this morning…

* * *

The Port Town of Shen Quan

Earlier That Day

Azula would have preferred to stay away from the settlements along the eastern coast of the Earth Kingdom as much of the region was under Fire Nation rule. But they were running low on supplies, and Azula had little in the way of proper wilderness survival training. Plus, she didn't trust the moron's alleged skills in hunting and trapping. So they're only option was to enter a town and see what they could get.

Money hadn't been that much of a problem. As Azula had pick-pocketed several of the wealthier-looking people she had come across. Katara didn't like the idea of stealing, but she didn't care what the Water Tribe girl thought. It was better to lower one's self to stealing than to starve to death like some wretched beggar.

"Ugh…Someone tell me again why I'm carrying all the supplies," Sokka grunted, a large sack slung over his shoulder while holding a slightly smaller bag in his other hand.

"It's called manners peasant," Azula replied, still wearing the blue clothes of Kyoshi Island, but now with a straw hat resting on her head. "A man always carries a lady's bags. Besides, you're not carrying _all _the supplies."

Which was true, as both Azula and Katara were carrying sacks of their own, albeit much smaller bags.

Sokka opened his mouth to say something, but Azula cut him off. "Look on the bright side, if you learn some manners, I won't call you an uneducated hick peasant anymore. You'll be a slightly educated hick peasant, with the personal hygiene of an uneducated hick peasant."

Sokka let out an unintelligent stammer, earning chuckles from Katara. "Katara…Don't laugh! I'm your brother! You should be on my side!" Sokka exclaimed.

"Oh come on Sokka. She's just teasing you," Katara cheerfully replied.

"That's not teasing. She's a-"

"By Agni! That's a huge bounty!" a nearby voice boomed.

The three teens stopped walking; turning to the inn they were passing. A small group of men had gathered in front of the inn's message board, where things like odd jobs and bounties were displayed.

"Yeah… Imagine what someone can with all that gold," another man said, this one a bounty hunter by the look of his clothes.

"Doesn't matter. With a reward that big, you know that June's gonna go after her," a fellow bounty hunter said. "Once she's got her scent, there's nowhere in the world she can hide."

The trio quietly moved towards the crowd, staying carefully in the back of the group. They were talking about a wanted poster. A poster with a drawing of Azula's face.

_WANTED_

_By order of Fire Lord Ozai_

_Azula, Former Princes of the Fire Nation_

_For the crimes of treason against the Fire Nation and the attempted murder of Fire Lord Ozai_

_A reward of ten thousand gold coins to the person(s) who capture Azula alive_

Azula didn't say anything as she pulled down the front of straw hat, concealing the top half of her face before walking away. Katara glanced at her brother, concerned look on her face. She took off after Azula. "Ayami! Ayami!" she said, calling Azula by the alias she told them to use while in town.

But Azula didn't stop or even acknowledge her. "Are you alright?" she asked as she reached her.

"I'm fine," Azula answered, her voice strained, as though she was holding back a scream. "I'm leaving."

Katara could tell that she was upset. Being call a traitor and an attempted murderer by our own father…well, Katara couldn't have imagined what that was like.

Unfortunately, things were about to change as they neared the center of the town. Just past the brunt ruins of several houses and shops, in the large open area that made up the center of the town, was a large crowd of people, gathering around a small, makeshift wooden platform with a man standing on it.

"They say the Avatar has return! That she is walking with us once more! But it's a lie! She's nothing more than the Fire Lord's own traitorous daughter! A power-hungry monster that tried to kill her own father in his sleep! She wants to us to rise up against her father so she can take his place! So she can enslave us all under the yoke of the Fire Nation!" the speaker shouted to the crowd. He was an average looking Earth Kingdom citizen with balding black hair and some dark green cloth wrapped around his left eye and the upper portion of that side of his face. A small amount of red, scarred skin emerged from the edge of the cloth. "Because of her, Kyoshi Island is now nothing but ash!"

Sokka blinked his eyes in confusion as the crowd angrily shouted in agreement with the speaker. He turned to a nearby woman in the crowd and asked, "Excuse me, but what's he talking about? We were at Kyoshi a week ago. It's not gone."

"You must have left before _she_ got there," the woman replied, her voice nearly as angry as the man speaking to the crowd. "Because after she left, the Fire Nation incinerated the entire island."

Sokka was horrified. "What?! What happened to the people there?! And the Warriors of Kyoshi?!" he frantically demanded.

"They say some of the villagers escaped, but many were killed or enslaved. As for the Warriors, I don't know. But they were probably wiped out."

Sokka spun around to the two girls. While Katara looked just as shocked as he was, Azula's face was neutral. "You knew, didn't you?!" Sokka accused. "You knew they were going to do that!"

"Most likely," Azula freely admitted. "Zhao always was a sore loser."

"And you didn't say anything?!"

"What was the point? It's not like we could have taken them all with us or even got them off the island in time," Azula answered. "So what would you have done? Stay there and die a heroic, meaningless death?"

"There had to have been another way! You're the Avatar! You stopped Zhao the first time! You could have done it again!" he screamed with all the rage he could muster, shoving Azula.

Azula stayed on her feet, but her hat fell off. "You idiot!" Azula cursed, staring not at him, but at the people behind him.

The people closest to them heard the shouting and naturally, looked back, seeing Azula.

"It's Azula!"

"Let's get her!"

"Down with the false Avatar!"

"For Kyoshi!"

"RUN!!!" Katara shouted, already turning to run.

With the argument instantly forgotten, the teens ran as hard and as fast as they could, the mob right behind them, screaming for blood.

Suddenly, something hard struck the back of Azula's head. Searing pain course through her head as her vision blurred and her legs stumbled. Azula heard someone call out her name as what felt like a tidal wave hit her. She crashed to the ground, blasts of pain surging throughout her body, and an instant later, darkness claimed her.

* * *

Looking back on it, Azula couldn't help but wonder why she didn't just use her firebending against them. Sure it would have allowed any nearby soldiers time to move in, but it would have easily scattered the mob. Panic must have gotten the better of her. Azula scowled, mentally berating herself for letting her emotions get the better of her.

Her mind when back to the wanted poster, gritting her teeth together as she suppressed a scream. How dare her father do that! She saved his life from an assassin only to be declared a traitor and blamed for the attempt on his life! "It wasn't supposed to be like this!" she ranted. "I'm not some pathetic screw up like Zuzu! I don't deserve this!!"

"Talking to one's self is said to be a sign of insanity," a voice from the next cell said. "If, of course, you believe that."

'_Great…I have a neighbor.'_

While Azula couldn't see the person talking to her, she could tell that he was young, probably around Zuzu's age. "Who are you?"

"…Don't remember. There's only so much space in one's brain. It's better to forget useless things than important things. Usually called by profession," he rambled, speaking rapidly yet pausing longer than normal in between sentences.

To be blunt, he sounded deranged, like he belonged in one of those nuthouses. "Okay…" she replied, unsure as to why she was even responding to this lunatic. "And just what are you?"

"Many things. Inventor, alchemist, tinker, philosopher, herbalist, doctor, whatever strikes fancy at the moment," he answered, his tone still rapid and with few pauses. "Newest name the Mad Alchemist. Nice name, if a little confusing. Rarely ever become angry."

Azula momentarily considered pointing out how they were using the word mad in case, but she doubted it would actually reach this 'Mad Alchemist'. Nor did she desire to try to point out that he sounded awfully young to be all the things he claimed. Then of course there was his odd way of talking, including how he never used the words 'I', 'me', and their variations.

But it wasn't like she had much else to do with her arms and legs chained as they were. "How did you end up here?" she asked.

"Have you seen the brunt buildings near the town square?"

"Yes."

"Responsible for that. By accident. Unfortunately, nobody saw it that way and ended up in here," the alchemist explained. "Was trying to show off a new firestarter that used a newly discovered black powder with interesting properties. Unfortunately, was a little careless…and well, you saw the result. Fortunately, no one was maimed or killed. Very lucky considering the size of the blast. By my calculations, based on the amount of powder and its level of refinement…"

Azula shock her head as the Alchemist started to ramble off a series of long-winded calculations at a rapid pace. Even with her level of intelligence, Azula couldn't keep up. But from what she could tell, his calculations were correct. Maybe he wasn't insane…or maybe he just had the mind of a genius but was insane.

* * *

In the woods

Outside Shen Quan

"Sokka, we have to rescue her!" Katara angrily shouted at her brother while Hisaki was letting out loud, pitiful wails.

"Why?! She doesn't care about us," Sokka replied just as angry as her. "If it was one of us, she'd leave us. You heard her. She knew what was going to happen to Kyoshi Island and left them to be attacked by the Fire Nation!" Sokka spun around to Hisaki. "And would someone shut that overgrown lizard up!!"

They had managed to escape from the town fairly easily. The mob and the soldiers had been entirely focused on Azula, allowing them to slip out unnoticed. Unfortunately, they couldn't agree on what they should do next.

"Hey! Leave her alone! She just misses Azula!" Katara shot back. "But she did have a point, what could she have done against them?"

"Hello! She's the Avatar! Master of the Four Elements!"

"Yes, but she's only a firebender at the moment. A powerful one, but still just one person against an army."

"She could have done that glowly eye thing," Sokka argued.

"I don't think she can just use that…state just like that. She didn't even seem aware of what she had done afterwards."

Sokka opened his mouth, but found himself unable to come up with something to say. But it didn't matter as at that moment, a man emerged from the bush. Both siblings immediately turned to the man, Sokka pulling out his club and Katara reaching for her waterskin. "Hold. I mean you no harm," the man said, raising his hand up. "You are traveling with Princess Azula, correct?"

The siblings eyed the man. He wore a simple brown, hooded traveler's cloak that covered much of his body and hid his face. In addition, he wore brown trousers and leather boots. "Who wants to know?" Sokka asked, trying to sound as tough as possible.

"I am part of a band of warriors fighting against the Fire Nation," the man answered. "My Commanding Officer who like to speak with you about Princess Azula, to learn if the stories about her are true."

"And if they are?" Katara skeptically replied.

"Then we will free before they send her back to the Fire Nation."

* * *

The Fire Nation Capital

"I trust you are unharmed, Fire Lord Ozai."

"The feeble assassin was unsuccessful," Ozai answered, staring down from his throne at the body of the dead assassin. One or more of his subjects had tried to have him killed. One of his _own_ people had tried to kill him. Had those cowards been there in person, he would have incinerated them completely, leaving nothing but ashes. "You have my gratitude for your assistance in this matter."

The man who killed the assassin stepped forward, over the dead body and bowed. "There is no need, my Lord Ozai. We exist to serve. But may I offer a suggestion?"

"Speak."

"With your only two heirs…_away_ from the homeland, these attempts on your life from would-be usurpers will only continue unless steps are taken."

Ozai raised an eyebrow. "And what are you suggesting?"

"While _former _Princess Azula is no longer…_fit_ to be your heir, your son, Prince Zuko, still is."

"I banished that weakling," Ozai spat. "Bringing him back now would be a sign of weakness."

"To those that seek your throne, yes, but to the masses, it appears that the Fire Lord, in this time of terrible betrayal, has reached out to his son, who despite his perhaps _overzealous _banishment and the hopeless quest he had been given, has never wavered in his loyalty to his nation, that he, the child who endure great hardships never wavered. Ultimately, proving his honor and loyalty to all doubters. The people will see your wisdom and compassion, and they will love you for it. Once Prince Zuko's status has been reinstated, none of the usurpers would dare strike at you or the Prince for fear of the people rising up against them for their cruel act."

"I do not desire their love, only their obedience."

"With respect, my lord, there is a time to be feared and a time to be loved. At the moment, most of the people fear you or believe that you were a fool for favoring your daughter more than your firstborn and for casting him out. If you died now, they either won't care or would praise your usurper. But if you do as I suggested, they will see that you aren't the horrible tyrant that many believe you are."

Ozai paused. He could see no fault in his suggestion other than making himself look weak. "Very well. I will take your suggestion under advisement, but I demand the services of your Order."

"Of course, my lord. The Order of the Obsidian Flame is more than willing to pledge their services to you. We simply await your orders."

"Track down those that seek my throne. Kill one third of them and deliver their remains to the other two-thirds as a message," he ordered. "Expect for those who sent the assassin. Kill their immediate families as horribly as possible. Send them a message that they will _never_ forget."

"As you wish, my lord."

* * *

With few other options, the Water Tribe siblings followed the man deeper into the forest, heading for his camp, though they didn't trust him and were prepared to make a break for it at a moment's notice. But so far, he had done nothing suspicious.

Until they laid eyes on the camp…

The camp was a mishmash of Fire Nation Army tents, Earth Kingdom tents and crude tents made from tarps and logs. That wasn't what set off bells. If they fitting in the woods against the Fire Nation, it stands to reason that they would steal from the Fire Nation. Nor was it the fact that many of them were wearing portions of Fire Nation armor. Again, they easily could have stole Fire Nation equipment to help them fight against the Fire Nation.

What caused the pair to panic was the fact that every warrior in the camp was _born _of the Fire Nation. "You're Fire Nation!" Katara exclaimed as she and Sokka slowly stepped back.

The warriors of the camp stopped what they were doing, turning their attention to the siblings as an older man left the largest tent of the camp and approached them.

"Yes. We were a part of the Fire Nation's armies at one point, but not anymore," the man said, keeping his hands out and away from his body in a nonthreatening manner.

"Who are you?"

"They call me the Deserter. But I am no cowardly deserter. I am simply a man of honor who could no longer stomach the actions were taking. My name is Jeong Jeong," he replied. "And we have much to discuss."

* * *

You know, I'm actually a little surprised I got this chapter done. I had been warring between a number of stories and story ideas. Including two Avatar/Warhammer Fantasy ideas that I've been having for awhile and part of me has been desiring to write.

Now, because I know plenty of people will ask this, Suki and the Kyoshi Warriors are still around, but they won't return until Book Two. And that's all I'm saying about them. Also, a few people have been asking me about Mai and Ty Lee. Likely, they'll get mentioned a few times over Book One, but they won't appear until Book Two. Rest assured, their role in story will be much different than in the canon, but again, no spoilers.

In regards to the Mad Alchemist, he's one of several Avatar characters I've had and certainly one of my absolute favorites. Utterly brilliant and utterly crazy. Expect to see more of him in the story.

As to the Order of the Obsidian Flame, I'm not saying anything about them.

Finally, review!


	7. Book 1: Chapter 7

Yo everybody! I am back from a weeklong trip with a brand new chapter for your enjoyment.

**Chapter Seven: The Alchemist and the Deserter**

Jeong Jeong's Camp

"I see," Jeong Jeong said as Katara finished telling their story. "When we first heard that the Princess tried to kill her father, I found it hard to believe. I met the Princess briefly years ago. Of all the things she appeared to be, devoted to her father was among the first and foremost. I cannot see someone that devoted to the Fire Lord betraying him. However, I cannot believe that she's the Avatar. The spirits would never be so cruel as to have such a wicked child as the Avatar."

Katara started to object. "But-"

Jeong Jeong raised his hand, cutting her off. "Listen to me, child. What you believe about her will not change the truth of who she is. Azula is a lot of things, but she is Ozai's daughter above all others. Like her father, people are but pieces of on a Pai Sho board to her."

"But she is the Avatar," Katara insisted. "We've both seen it with our own eyes."

"If so, than the spirits have a truly warped sense of humor," the old firebender bitterly replied. "Of all the people who could be the Avatar, why they would choose a wicked child like her, is beyond all reasoning."

"So you won't help us free her then?"

"No. We will help you," Jeong Jeong answered. "We have been fighting against the Fire Nation for some time now. Freeing her would only could them more trouble."

* * *

The Shen Quan Garrison

Azula sighed in boredom as she lay bound on the floor. There was little she could do give her current predicament. Of course, the only other person in the small prison was a less than entertaining person to speak to. In fact, at the moment, the Mad Alchemist was mumbling out all kinds of calculations and formulas that even she struggled to make heads or tails of.

She had come to the conclusion that either he was a genius, completely insane, or both.

Suddenly, Azula heard the door to the cell block open and footsteps approaching. "Former Princess Azula… It is good to see you again," a very familiar and very smug voice called out as the footsteps stopped.

Azula scowled, instantly recognizing the voice. "Zhao."

Zhao chuckled for a moment before turning his attention to the other cell. "Ah…And this is the 'Mad Alchemist' who managed to create a new and powerful weapon. I sure the Fire Nation will find more than a few uses for you inventions."

"Sorry. Inventions not intended for the armies of the Fire Nation. Made to help people, not tyrannical empires," the Alchemist replied off-handedly, paying more attention to his calculations than the Fire Nation Commander.

"We'll see," Zhao said, ignoring him. "But you…you are _the_ prize here Princess. Who would have imagined Ozai's favored child, a prodigy blessed by Agni, and the Avatar, bested by a single rock, thrown by a simple peasant, how the mighty have fallen."

"Why don't you release these restraints, then we see how far I've fallen," Azula retorted, more than eager to burn that smug smile he undoubtedly had right now.

"I think not Princess. I'm not going to be taking any chances now that I have you. Tomorrow morning, the two of you will be loaded onto my ship, bound for the capital. You Princess, shall serve as an example to all those who dare oppose the Fire Lord and the Fire Nation, while you, Alchemist, shall create more weapons of war for me, weapons that shall finally end this war with the Fire Nation victorious."

"If you think you can hold me, you're sorely mistake Zhao," Azula shot back. "I'll be out of here before dawn. In fact, I'll even let him out too."

Zhao started laughing. "That's quite a bold statement Princess. And just how do you plan on escaping with your limbs bound like this?"

"And ruin the surprise? I think not."

* * *

Jeong Jeong's Camp

"They're keeping Azula here," Sai, one of Jeong Jeong's scouts, said, pointing to the largest building on the map of Shen Quan. "In the town hall. Many, many years ago when this port was taken, they fortified the hall into a small garrison with a small outer wall and gate. But because this is a port, albeit minor, non-vital one, there double the number of soldiers that would normally be in a town of this size. And that's not including the soldiers and sailors from the warships and supply ships that currently in the port. Added to this, there are patrols that travel through the area around the garrison on a regular basis, stopping anyone civilians from coming near the town center after dark."

Katara, Sokka, Jeong Jeong and several of his warriors were gathered around the map spread across a short table in Jeong Jeong's tent. Sokka shook his head and groaned as the scout explained the garrison and the disposition of its sentries. "Figures. How can this get any tougher?"

"Actually, we have a major advantage here. The soldiers assigned to the garrison, have been there for months. They're become bored and lazy from guarding a small port town far from the front. Aside from the occasional band of bandits, they've seen little action. And every night many of the off-duty soldiers frequent the taverns of the town," the man pointed out. "So the majority of the soldiers in the garrison will just be those on duty and by the time we strike, those in taverns will have drunken too much to fight effectively."

"Our best chance is ambush several of the off-duty soldiers and pose as them. Then we walk right into the garrison and get her out," Jeong Jeong said, studying the map. "However, I'm concerned about is getting her out quickly should the alarm be sounded. Drunken men can still slow us down."

"We can fly her out," Katara suggested.

Jeong Jeong shot her a questioning glance. "What?"

"We have a Sky Bison. We can use her to get Azula out of the town after we free."

"There is no we. My men and I can infiltrate the garrison but you and your brother are too small to pose as soldiers. They'll spot you in a second," the aging Firebender replied. "But if what you say is true, we can use the beast to take her out of the city. Wait on the outskirts of the town with her. When you see our signal, fly to the garrison where we'll be waiting with her. The three of you will escape while my men and I will slip out of the town."

"What will be the signal?" Katara asked.

"You'll know it when you see it."

* * *

The Shen Quan Garrison

"You! Guard! I need to relieve myself," Aula demanded as she heard footsteps pass her cell.

"So? What am I suppose to do about it?" the guard replied, clearly annoyed.

"Isn't it obvious? Unchain me so I can relieve myself."

The man snickered at her request. "So you can firebend? Do you take me for a fool?"

"In case you haven't noticed, I've got these iron boxes on my hands and feet, so how can I bend?" Azula retorted, shaking her chains a little bit.

The guard let out a sigh and a moment later, Azula heard the cell doors open. "Just don't make any funny moves."

The soldier knelt down next to her, unchaining her legs and then her arms. He stood back, a metal baton in hand, watching Azula carefully as she slowly rose to her feet. Azula moved towards the bucket that prisoners had for relieving themselves. She stood there for a moment, staring down at the bucket before glancing over her shoulder at the guard. "Word of advice, a firebender can create fire not just from their hands and feet. We can breathe it out as well."

Before the man could react, a jet of fire struck him, throwing him into the cell bars behind him. Suddenly, Azula was on him, swinging her metal-encased right hand at his head.

_WHAM!!!_

The guard collapsed in heap, his baton and his keyring landing on the ground nearby. Azula got down on her hands and knees, and using her teeth, picked up the keys. Then she sat down and crossed her legs as best she could while pressing her left arm against her chest, setting the keys onto her arm. After a few minutes of trial and error, she got the correct key in her mouth, using it to free her hand. With her hand free, she pulled the key from her mouth and began unlocking the rest of her bonds.

Azula stood up, grabbing the keys and the baton on the ground. She left the cell, locking it behind her. However, she did not head for the door instead; she walked to the Alchemist's cell. He wasn't much to look at. Though her guess of his age being around that of her brother's, appeared to be correct. The Alchemist was sprawled out across the simple cot in the cell. His body was thin and pale, while he wore rather frayed and unkempt Earth Kingdom clothes, giving him the appearance of someone who cared little about their own well-being. Interestingly enough, there was one article of his clothing that was well cared for. An odd object that rested on his forehead. It looked like a pair of spectacles, but unlike any that she had ever seen. The two lenses were attached to a band that wrapped around his head and even stranger, on the end of each lens was a small metal rod which held three increasingly smaller lenses that were angled away from the main lenses. His long dark brown hair was tied back in a loose ponytail, though it looked like it was more to keep his hair out of the way rather than style. His eyes were closed and his hands were clasped together on his chest as continued to mutter out various calculations.

Without saying anything, Azula unlocked the cell and opened it, causing the Alchemist to open his eyes, staring at her with a green right eye and a blue left eye. "You opened the cell. Why?" he asked.

"Because I don't like Zhao," Azula replied. "He wants you as well, so I'm going to let you out."

The Alchemist rose from his cot, bowing his head. "Thank you."

"Here," Azula said, offering him the baton. "You're going need something to defend yourself so you won't be completely useless."

The Alchemist shook his head. "No. Don't use weapons. Do you have the key to the chest at the end of the hall?"

"Possibly."

"Good. Belongings are in there. Tools should prove useful for escaping," The Alchemist said, stepping out of the cell, moving pass Azula, heading for the end of the hall.

Next to the door out of the cells was a large wooden chest. "Key," the Alchemist said, raising his hand up.

Azula threw it to him and he opened the chest, and began to rummage through it. "Ah. They did not throw way the bags," he said, pulling out a number of bags and pouches.

"What's in those bags?" Azula asked he began strapping the bags to his legs, waist and body.

"Tools, instruments, black powder satchels and other," he answered, securing the last bag to his belt. "Should help with the means of escape."

Suddenly, the door opened, a soldier standing there. For what seemed like an eternity, they just stood there, staring at each other. "The prisoners are-" the guard started to shout, only to have Azula throw the baton at his head, knocking him out.

Moments later, alarm bells were sounding through the building.

* * *

"'nother round!" a Fire Nation soldier barked, slamming an empty mug on the table.

"Sir, I think you've had enough," a barmaid politely said.

But her words only angered the soldier and he slapped her, earning laugher from his drunken comrades while the locals just quietly watched. "I'll tell you when I've had enough," he shot back, his words slurring. "Another round!"

"That's very, very disrespectful," an old man said from a neighboring table. "True warriors do not disrespect women like that."

"Watch your tongue old man!" the soldier shouted, rising to his feet. "I'm a soldier of the Fire Nation! I demand that you show me the proper respect I deserve!"

"More like a stupid drunkard," the old man casually replied. "A true soldier does not need to demand respect from anyone."

"That's it!" the soldier shouted, drawing his dagger and lunging at the old man.

But the old man was much faster than the drunken soldier, deflecting the man's arm, sending the dagger flying. Before the soldier could react, the old man struck back, thrusting two fingers into the man's forehead. The soldier stumbled back, crashing into the table. "In addition, a true soldier is always observant of his surroundings and those he fights."

"Don't lecture me old man!" the soldier yelled, rising back to his feet.

"I am no teacher," the man replied. "I'm merely pointing out the facts. You and your men picked one of the smaller taverns, seeking to avoid the crowds of larger taverns. But that also means that you and your party are the only Fire Nation soldiers in this tavern." At that moment, the other patrons began to rise out of their seats. "You also decided to consume a fair amount, dulling your senses, thinking, reaction and abilities. Never a wise decision for soldiers occupying an enemy town." Suddenly, a large axe slammed into the table, slicing it in two and stunning the soldiers. "Finally, and the most foolish thing you've done tonight, is picking a fight in tavern run by a man who is a Pai Sho master." The remaining patrons in the tavern drew their concealed weapons as the barmaid lifted up her axe with a single hand, resting the large weapon on her shoulder.

Moments later, Jeong Jeong opened the tavern's back door, waving his men inside, where they could change into the uniforms of the soldiers.

* * *

"Come on. Shut up," Sokka hissed, trying to silence Hisaki who was still wailing for Azula. "This stupid lizard is gonna get us caught."

Currently, the Water Tribe siblings were sitting atop Sora, on the outskirts of the forest just north of Shen Quan, watching the town for some sign of Jeong Jeong's signal. But it would all fall apart if Hisaki's cries would alert the town sentries. "Shh…" Katara said, stroking the wyvern's head. "We're going to help Azula, but we need you to be quiet right now."

"Why are you bothering? It's not like that lizard can understand you."

But as Sokka said those words, Hisaki stopped and snapped at him, earning what sounded like chuckles from Momo. "Hey! Watch it you stupid-"

"Sokka, be quiet," Katara hissed. "You're going to alert the guards."

"But I-"

"Not now. We have stay hidden and keep an eye out for-"

At that very moment, bells started to ring throughout the town.

* * *

Jeong Jeong and his men were a mere block and a half from the garrison when the bells rang. "Did someone from the tavern tip them off?" one of the rebels asked.

"No," Jeong Jeong answered, shaking his head. "None of those people would betray us to the Fire Nation. Azula must be trying to escape as well. Hurry up, we don't have much time."

* * *

"Secure the gate! Those outside the gate, form ranks in of it!" Lieutenant Zhang ordered. "The Princess must not escape!"

His men inside the garrison walls rushed to lock and bar the gates, the only way in or out of the garrison. She would have to come through here.

They all knew it.

Azula and the Alchemist carefully peered out of a window in garrison, observing the soldiers' movements. "This is going to be difficult," she commented. "Even if we manage to clear out the soldiers here and open the gate, there's still more waiting outside."

"Hmm…Fire Nation Girl, have plan," the Alchemist said. "But will need protection."

"My name is Azula," the annoyed princess replied.

"Azure, need protection," he said, heading for the door.

Azula felt a vein on her forehead throb as she followed after him. "I said my name is-Ah forget it! Whatever you do; you better do it fast!"

The two rounded a corner, coming face to face with two more soldiers. "There they are!" one shouted, only to receive a blast of fire, throwing him back.

His comrade lasted only a few seconds longer and managed to raise his sword before a second fireball hit him. With the two guards down, they pressed on. "That's the sixth and seventh soldiers I've dealt with, by myself," Azula said, growing more and more annoyed by the Alchemist's refusal to fight.

"Many things, not a fighter."

"Even to defend yourself?"

"Not a fighter," he repeated.

"Fine. What's your plan?"

* * *

Commander Zhao sat at his desk, sipping a glass of fine Fire Nation spirits, writing his proposal to the Fire Lord for an invasion of the Northern Water Tribe. With Azula captured and the great Fire Nation warmachine grinding down the armies of Earth Kingdom, now was the time to break the stubborn northern tribe once and for all. And of course to add to his latest accomplishment. Soon, he would not just be known as the man who captured the traitor Azula, but the man who bested the Spirits.

"Commander Zhao!" a guard called out, barging into his chambers. "The garrison has sounded the alarm!"

"WHAT?!!"

* * *

Azula leaped out of the garrison entrance, throwing fireballs into the soldiers guarding the gate. Fortunately for her, none of those within the garrison were firebenders, giving her a major advantage over the numerous soldiers. Alternating between fireballs, fire whips and jets of flames, Azula forced the soldiers back and away from the gate, creating an opening. "Now!" Azula called out.

At that moment, the Alchemist emerged, rushing for gate. Once he reached the gate, he knelt down, pulling out small bags from several of his pouches. As he did that, the soldiers had begun to regroup and were advancing on Azula from all directions. A fireball struck one soldier down, a fire whip lashed across another soldier's chest. But still more were coming at her. A soldier lunged at Azula with a spear; she jumped over the spear blade and struck back with a fireball. A second soldier attacked her with a sword. Sidestepping the downward blade, Azula slammed her hand into the man's throat. The man doubled over, gasping for breath.

"There!" the Alchemist called out, rushing from the gate. "Now is the time to vacate the area before the explosion!"

The two teens ran back into the garrison, the soldiers close behind, unaware of what was about to happen.

* * *

Outside the gate, Jeong Jeong and his men found number of Fire Nation soldiers gathering around the gate. "I am Lieutenant Jin of the Dragon's Wrath," he said to the nearest officer. "What's going on here?"

"The prisoners have escaped," the lieutenant replied. "But they haven't made it out of the gates yet. We've been ordered to stand guard here in case they somehow manage to free themselves."

Jeong Jeong nodded his head. "I see." Suddenly, he struck the man. "Fool! Do you have any idea who the prisoner is?! Azula is a firebending prodigy! How many benders are stationed at this garrison?!"

"N...n-none sir!"

"Then open this gate now, so that we, firebenders, can get in there!"

"I can't. It's locked and barred on the inside," the panicking junior officer replied.

Jeong Jeong scowled. There was no way they could get in though the gate then. They would have to wait for Azula to escape from the walled garrison, or…

He stepped away from the officer and gestured for Chey to approach. His trusted aide approached him. "Chey, go find them and tell them to come into town."

"Yes sir-"

At that instant, the gate exploded outward.

* * *

_BOOM!!!_

Katara and Sokka stared into the town, utterly stunned by what sounded like thunder and the rising smoke from the town center. "Was that the signal?" Sokka asked, growing concerned over what was happening.

"Maybe," Katara said, glancing at her brother. "Should we go?"

"I guess."

And with that, Sokka pulled on the reigns, urging the Sora into the air.

* * *

_BOOM!!!_

The bombs went off, and the force of the explosion violently tore open the gates, throwing debris in the crowd of soldiers waiting outside. Many were hit or cut up by the flying pieces of the gate.

Inside the garrison, the soldiers were utterly stunned by what just happened. In fact, only two were moving after the explosion, Azula and the Alchemist. The two were not wasting their opening, sprinting for the now opened gate.

Dead and dying bodies lay around the outside of shatter gate, but neither stopped as the first of the soldiers recovered from their shock. At the far edge of the group of gathered soldiers, an old officer and several other soldiers rose to their feet, straight in their path. "Stop!" the old man called out.

'_Like that's going happen,'_ Azula thought, already turning away from them.

"Wait! Azula!" the man continued to call out. "We're here to rescue you!"

This caused her to pause, stopping her in her tracks for a second. _'Get grip on yourself,'_ she chastised. _'There's no way anyone would come to rescue you.'_

"AZULA!!!" a voice that was growing far too familiar for Azula's liking, screamed.

It was Zhao with a group of soldiers and firebenders. Needless to say, he was not happy. "Do not think that you are about to escape," Zhao snapped, furious at her escape attempt. "The only way you're leaving this town in the holding cell of my ship."

"Just try, Zhao. Just try."

Azula threw a fireball at Zhao but he countered with a larger fireball before he and his firebenders attacked together. Fire streaked towards Azula. She deflected two fireballs, leapt over a third and fourth, then diving under the fifth. "Too slow," Azula commented.

"Then try this!" Zhao roared as he and his firebenders struck as one, sending one huge combined jet of fire.

Using every last ounce of strength, Azula created a wall of fire, trying to shield herself from the fire. Fire met fire. The fire wall flared up from the fire jets. Beads of sweat slid down Azula face as she fought to maintain the wall while Zhao and his men didn't let up, throwing more fire into the wall.

Azula, despite being the prodigy she was, could only hold out against such assault for so long and she knew it. She would tire and their streams of fire would engulf her. It was as simple as that.

'_No! I refuse to lose here! I am Azula, the next Fire Lord! I will not lose!'_

Suddenly, the old man appeared at her side, throwing fire into the wall, pushing it forward. Zhao and his firebenders were thrown off guard by this sudden intrusion, ending their attack.

"Still just as reckless as ever, my former pupil," the old man said. "All you know is how to overpower your opponent. As always, you lack control, restraint, discipline."

"I am no longer a young student, my former teacher," Zhao snarled. "I am a master now. Far more powerful than you ever were."

"We shall see." The old man turned to Azula. "Azula, stand back."

If this old man and Zhao wanted to fight, that was fine with her. Azula took a few steps back. At the same time, Zhao glanced at one of his men. "Make sure she doesn't escape," he ordered.

Zhao struck, throwing large jets of fire at the old man. The man created a fire wall before him. Zhao's fire struck the wall, but it held. The naval commander growled in anger, attacking again and again. But every time, the old man deflected or blocked Zhao's attack seemingly effortlessly. Yet he himself never attacked and this only served to enrage Zhao more.

But Azula had already picked up on the old man's plan. He clearly knew Zhao's fighting style of using raw power to overwhelm his opponents while the old man's style was one of focus and discipline, fighting defensively so that Zhao would quickly use up his energy. A clever ploy. One Azula would have used had Zhao fought her one on one.

No matter, she wasn't about to let this distraction go to waste. As more and more soldiers turned their attention to the dueling firebenders, Azula began to slip away. Unfortunately, she wouldn't get very far. Several of the firebenders attacked her; Azula deflected their first two blasts and then dived to her knees, sliding under the third. "You will not escape, traitor," one of the benders proclaimed.

"Traitor?! Traitor?!!" Azula all but screamed, feeling her own anger rise. "_I_ was the one who was betrayed!"

Normally, Azula was never one to let her emotions get the better of her, but after everything that had happened in the last two weeks, and then being called a traitor from a man who should be rightfully bowing to her, was just too much for her. All the anger, the bitterness, and the pain that she had been holding in, surged out. Roaring at the top of her lungs, Azula lashed out that man with twin fire whips. The bender deflected the first whip, but the second struck his face. The man howled in agony, clutching his face. But Azula didn't stop, with the man defenseless; she attacked again her whips striking him across the chest. The screaming man fell to his knees while his fellows attacked her with fireballs. Azula leaped up, evading one fireball while deflecting the other with a kick and following with a second kick that sent an arc of fire at the two. They managed to create fire shields, blocking the worse of the attack, but the force pushed them back.

Suddenly, a voice called out, "Azula!!"

A Sky Bison landed behind her, atop it was the Water Tribe siblings. "Come on!" Katara yelled, waving her arm. "We're here to get you out of here!"

Her words broke the princess from her rage and she paused, allowing the two firebender to recover and strike back with streams of fire. But somehow Azula managed to deflect their attacks, directing them away from her. After that, she didn't waste another second, sprinting to the bison and climbing atop it with a helping hand from Katara.

At the same time, the Alchemist appeared, climbing up the other side of Sora. "Fascinating. Truly fascinating," he said, his attention entirely on the large beast. "How does such a large creature manage to stay aloft in the air?"

"Hey! Who's that?" Sokka demanded, annoyed at the unexpected guest.

"Don't worry. He's harmless," Azula replied. "Well, not entirely. You took out more soldiers than I did in that last blast. Surprising from someone who said they weren't a fighter."

"Regrettable, yes," he said, his expression dropping for a brief moment before perking back up. "But have already set aside half an hour for reflection and mourning."

Azula turned back to Sokka. "Come on, peasant. We should have been up in the air by now," she snapped.

"Yeah, yeah, I hear you, your majesty," Sokka grumbled, pulling on the reigns, urging Sora back into the air. "Remind me again why I helped rescue you?"

"This rescue isn't over yet, peasant."

"Don't let her escape!" Zhao roared as he continued his duel below them.

The fireballs raced upwards at them. Sokka pulled hard on the reigns, Sora bellowed as she pulled right, avoiding several fireballs as she flew upwards. However, one came dangerously close to the bison, missing it by mere inches. More fireballs flew up, but the bison had risen up too high for the benders to hit.

"We've made it," Katara said as Sokka guided Sora out of the town. "But I hope Jeong Jeong and others can make it out."

Azula blinked, remembering the name. "Jeong Jeong? That's who was fighting Zhao?"

"Yes. He found us after you were captured, and he was going to help free you," Katara explained.

"Figures. Only people that would help me are enemies and traitors," Azula muttered under her breath.

"What?"

"Nothing. Just wishing I could see the look on Zhao's face right now," she replied. "Losing not one but two prisoners, I can't think of much else that would be that humiliating for him."

* * *

Zuko stood upon the deck of his ship, staring out at the sea, the reflection of the full moon shinning on the water's surface. He had little luck in tracking down his sister, forcing them to tail Commander Zhao for the time being. Zhao was heading north and so was Azula from what they had gathered from a boat filled with refugees.

But this lull had given him time to reflect on things. His father once said that Azula was born lucky and that he was lucky to be born. For years, that had seemed to be true, but now…now it didn't seem to be true. She was now in a worse position than he was, on the run, a fugitive of her own nation, and no allies what so ever. Well, she did have those two children from the Water Tribe, but other than that, no one.

Ever since Azula had first used firebending at age three, she excelled at everything, completely overshadowing him, her older brother, earning their father's favor. True to their father's words, she appeared to have been born lucky, blessed with such natural talents. Zuko had to admit, he was always a little jealous of her and her abilities, nor did he ever understand why Azula, his younger sister, so much better than him. But now everything made sense. She was the Avatar, the Master of the Four Elements. As the Avatar, her abilities were naturally greater than any normal person.

"A copper for your thoughts, Prince Zuko," his uncle said, walking up behind the Prince.

"I've been thinking about Azula," he admitted.

"Anything in particular about your sister?"

Zuko paused for a moment. "Merely wondering where she's ultimately heading," he answered, not wanting to speak about what he had really been thinking. "I know she's heading north, but the question is where? Where is she heading?"

"Hmm… That is a difficult question," Iroh said, scratching his chin. "The only way to answer that is to answer, what are her plans? Which could be anything. Though if I were her, I'd probably find a place to lay low for awhile before making my next move."

"Perhaps. But with Azula it's hard to-"

"Prince Zuko! General Iroh! A message has arrived!" Lieutenant Jee called out as he ran onto the deck, carrying a sealed scroll. "It's from the Fire Lord himself!"

Jee handed Zuko the scroll, and as he said, it bore the seal of the Fire Lord. It could only be from his father. Zuko broke the seal and unrolled it, his eyes swiftly scanning the letter.

"What does the message say Prince Zuko?" Iroh asked.

Zuko staggered back, completely stunned by the contents of the message. "It's my father. He's asking me to come back home…" he uttered. "My banishment is…over…" Zuko paused, taking a moment to collect himself. He wasn't the only one; both Iroh and Jee were just as stunned by this announcement. "Set course for Crescent Island," Zuko ordered. "That's where father is going to meet us."

* * *

After escaping from Shen Quan, the Alchemist guided them to where his workshop, a few miles north of the town. At one point, it had clearly been a farmstead. But now the fields were wild and unkempt while the house had been added onto, with several rooms and chimneys attached to the building. But these add-ons lacked the Earth Kingdom style of the rest of house, like the add-ons were more on the practical side than stylish.

"So what will you do now?" Katara asked as the Alchemist climbed down.

Azula had to admit, she was a little curious too. This alchemist was certainly an interesting individual. Though she hadn't decided if he a genius or insane.

"Know some people in the Lin Tao Fleet. Can find shelter with them," the Alchemist answered.

Azula was surprised by this. Of all the people he could hide with, he was going to hide with them? "Pirates? You're going to hide with pirates?"

"What's this Lin Tao Fleet?" Katara asked, curious about the Fleet.

"The first province of the Earth Kingdom to be invaded by Fire Lord Sozin was Nakashi, ruled by the Lin Tao Family and its people hailed as the great fleetmasters of Earth Kingdom. In fact, they were the heart of the Earth Kingdom's navy," Azula explained, remembering her history lessons. "The naval battle between the warships of the Fire Nation Navy and the ships of the Nakashi Fleet lasted nearly a week, with the battle constantly shifting back and forth between the two sides. We won, but when we pulled into the port cities of Nakashi, all we found was ruins."

"What happened to them?"

"As we battled their navy, Lord Lao Lin Tao ordered his people onto dozens, perhaps hundreds of ships before setting fire to their ports, denying us the use of them. The survivors became pirates, living entirely on ships and raiding Fire Nation ships for supplies or so they say."

"Fascinating people," the Alchemist said. "Live nearly entirely on the ocean despite being natives of the Earth Kingdom. Only a few hidden coastal coves provide them with land support. Know where a few of them are. Traded with them in the past. Very good at acquiring things."

"I bet they are," Azula said. "They're pirates and smugglers after all."

The Alchemist shrugged. "True. A bit of advice before you leave, head straight north. There's a vast swamp there. Considered haunted. Locals wouldn't dare approach it. And the terrain would make it difficult to follow you on foot. Good place to hide."

Azula nodded. Swamps may be miserable, wet, insect-filled places, but it would be one place she would never set foot in, and Zhao knows it. Hence, it would be a perfect place to hide for a day or two before moving onto Crescent Island. "You heard him peasant, head north," Azula said.

"What?! We're going to a swamp?!" Sokka exclaimed.

"Yes. Now get us out of here."

"Fine, fine, fine. We're going," Sokka bitterly said, pulling on the reigns.

"Until the next time!" the Alchemist called out as they took off, leaving him and workshop behind.

Once they were soaring in sky, Azula turned to Katara. There was still something on her mind. "Why did you come to rescue me? What did you have to gain?"

The Water Tribe girl looked at her with a funny look in her eyes. "Gain? We didn't do it to gain something Azula. We did it because it was the right thing to do. And because you're our friend."

Azula was taken back by her words. It didn't make sense. The only reason anyone would do something dangerous like that was for their own gain. They didn't do risky things because it was the 'right thing'. And friends? Friends were just people that came together because it was mutually beneficial for them. They wouldn't risk their lives to help the other in something that really wouldn't gain anything for them.

…wouldn't they?

* * *

And done. I rather enjoyed this chapter, though I've been working on the next chapter, the last one before Crescent Island, and I think that one is gonna be even better.

Preview: In this place…I came face to face with myself…and who I saw was a stranger….

As always, review!


	8. Book 1: Chapter 8

Yo everybody! Sorry for the delay, but I wanted to make sure it was just right before posting. But it's done now and ready for your enjoyment. This is one of the chapters I've been looking forward to, for a couple of reasons which you'll see as you read.

**Chapter Eight: The Swamp**

"Gah... Okay, whose idea was it to go through the swamp again?" Sokka grumbled, slapping a bug off his neck.

"Quit your bellyaching," Azula snapped, swatting away the mosquitoes that were after her. "It may not be pleasant, but it's safe here. Zhao won't chase us in here, if he somehow managed to track us here."

"I don't know. I feel like we're not alone," Katara said uncertainly, eyeing their surroundings, Sora lumbering behind her. Originally, they had wanted to fly deeper into the swamp, but Sora had stubbornly refused to fly any further than the outskirts of the swamps, forcing them to go further on foot. Considering the foreboding appearance of the swamp, it was hard to blame the animal.

"It's just animals and your imagination," Azula replied offhandedly. But she didn't want to admit that she felt same. Like there were eyes staring at her, eyes she couldn't see.

'Get a grip,' she thought, trying to dispel the niggling feeling. 'This place isn't haunted. It may look creepy, but that's it. It's swamp, nothing else.'

"I can't believe that I'm saying this, but I agree with her," Sokka said, climbing over a fallen log. "It's just a swamp, Katara."

"Why thank you Water Boy," Azula said, pulling herself over the same log. "Clearly you are finally beginning to-"

Azula froze, heard voices whispering nearby. She couldn't make out what they were saying but there was definitely whispering. "Azula? Are you alright?" Katara asked, the whispers disappearing.

"…Yes. I'm fine. I thought I heard something. That's all."

But somehow, none of them seemed all that convinced.

* * *

After hours of wandering the swamp, the sun had begun to set and the three set up camp for the night upon what appeared to be a giant tree branch. That was something they all noticed as they moved deeper into the swamp, the trees grew larger and larger to point where they rivaled the greatest of buildings.

They were silent as they ate, only the sounds of animals filling the air. Yet none of them could shake the feeling that they were being watched.

Azula was growing to hate this miserable place more and more. Certainly this was the lowest point in this whole wretched…incident for a lack of a better word. She was Royalty! Yet she was forced to hide in this bug-infested bog. Damn Zhao for stubbornness! Damn the Spirits for this cruel joke!

"So what are we going to do once the Winter Solstice comes?" Katara asked, trying to break the silence.

"As I said, we are going to the Fire Temple on Crescent Island."

"You mean you were serious? You want to march into Fire Nation territory!" Sokka exclaimed. "That's crazy!"

"Quit screaming Water Boy. I know what I'm doing," Azula replied, ignoring his outburst. "Crescent Island is the smallest and furthest island of the Fire Nation. In fact, there is only one building on the entire island, the Fire Temple. And they only people there are a bunch of old sages. An easy opponent even for you."

"Okay…_ Why_ are we going into the Fire Nation?"

"Because I said so," Azula said dismissively.

Sokka shook his head. "That's not good enough."

"Then you can stay here in the swamp," Azula said, becoming increasingly annoyed at the questions.

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me. I never invited the two of you, you both decided to follow me. If you don't like where I going than leave. I have no use for people who only complain and whine."

"That's enough!" Katara yelled clearly fed up with their fighting, silencing the two. "This pointless fighting isn't helping anyone. Azula, we came to help you willingly, so _please_ stop pushing us around. And Sokka, stop trying to turn every little thing into an excuse to pick a fight with Azula. I expect this kind of behavior from little children, not from you two. Now apologize."

The two teens glared at each other, neither saying anything. "I said _apologize_," Katara said again, this time more forcefully.

Azula hated to admit it, but they were only allies she had. She still needed them. For now anyway. "I'm sorry," she forced herself to say, swallowing her pride.

"I'm sorry too," Sokka replied, looking he had just eaten something incredibly sour.

But Katara seemed pleased, her expression softening. "There. Was that so hard?"

'_More than you can possibly know,'_ both teens thought simultaneously.

"It's getting late," Katara continued. "Perhaps we should turn in for the night."

With that, the three teens turned in for the night, unaware that something was watching them and had been watching them for quite some time. It waited patiently as one by one, they drifted into sleep.

Vines slowly crept across the mammoth branch, moving towards the three sleeping teens. They wrapped around their legs, creeping up their bodies. Suddenly, Azula sprang to life, fire daggers slicing through the vines. "We're under attack!" she shouted.

Sokka and Katara woke up instantly, but it was too late. Before they could do anything, the vines pulled them in separate directions. Azula shot up to her feet, cutting more vines with her fire daggers. More and more vines were coming at her, but Azula was faster, slicing every single one that came at her. However, she failed to notice one vine creeping along the ground towards her.

The vines attacking Azula relented, slinking away from her. "Ha!" she laughed. "I could never be beaten by mere plants!"

At that moment, the lone vine struck, wrapping around her ankle and pulling hard. Azula fell forward, slamming into the ground. Before she could recover, more vines attacked, wrapping her up and pulling her away, into the swamp.

* * *

"Katara! Katara! Can you hear?" Sokka called out, wandering through the knee high swamp water. "Katara!"

He was worried for his little sister. Katara was out there, alone in the middle of this horrible swamp, filled with all kinds of monsters, like that freaky vine monster that had grabbed them and dragged them away from each other. Fortunately for him, he had managed to pull out his knife and cut the vines before they could do what they were going to do to him. Unfortunately, they had pulled him far from their camp, and now he was lost in the swamp, in the dark.

"Let's hide in a swamp she said," he sarcastically muttered to himself. "Zhao and his men won't be able to follow us in there. It's completely safe, it's just a swamp. There's only swamp animals here and they can't harm us." He shook his head. "Never should have let her talk us into this."

Suddenly, he heard something approaching from behind him. It sounded like a small boat traveling by paddle. Sokka turned around, facing the source of the sound. There was a small canoe traveling across the swamp water, heading towards him and there, standing at the front of the small boat was a girl. The most beautiful girl Sokka had ever seen. Her long white hair was pulled back into a triangular braid behind her head while her longs bangs were braided, running down the front of her shoulders. She wore a blue parka of the Water Tribe, but it was of a slightly different styling than the kind his tribe wore. Her face was soft and beautiful with an air of nobility. She seemed to radiate an inner light, illuminating the darkness. Like a maiden from one of the tales his mother told him when he was little.

Sokka was frozen in awe. The girl's blue eyes looked down on him and smile spread across her lips. Sokka tried to say something, but his tongue refused to work and all that come out was a few unintelligent words, making him look like an idiot. The girl chuckled as her boat passed him and faded into the darkness.

Only once she was gone, did Sokka finally manage regain his wits. "Wait!" he shouted, chasing after the boat into the dark swamp.

But he couldn't fine it, or even hear it anymore, which didn't make sense. People and boats don't just vanish in thin air. So what happened to her?

But he didn't have long to think about it. At that moment, an arm shot out of the darkness, wrapping around his waist and pulling him back, into the swamp water.

"Are you trying to get yourself killed?" a voice exclaimed. "You were about to step into a bog."

Sokka looked up at the person as he pulled himself up. He wore a rather drab brown traveler's cloak, covering his body. He wore a dark brown straw hat with cloth strands running down the sides and back of the hat, obscuring the top half of his face. His forearms were covered in dark leather bracers with matching fingerless leather gloves. He held a burning torch in left hand.

"Who are you?" Sokka asked, standing before the slightly shorter teen.

"A lost traveler who, just like you, has ended up in this Spirit-forsaken place," he replied.

* * *

"Blasted swamp!" Azula cursed as she walked through the swamp, her right arm raised up, holding a ball of fire for light.

She was regretting this whole trip to the swamp. It was suppose to be a place to lie low for a while so Zhao was would continue traveling north and when they left the swamp, they would be behind Zhao. Now they were lost in a swamp with someone or something that was out to get them.

Suddenly, Azula stopped, staring at the darkness ahead of her. She extended her arm forward, thrusting her fire into the darkness. But there was no illumination. The fire didn't light up the darkness before her; rather the shadows seemed to absorb the light. It was impossible. It didn't make any sense.

"_**You are mine!**_" a voice bellowed from the darkness, startling Azula and causing her to extinguish her fire. "_**You will always be mine!**_"

Glowing green orbs appeared in the darkness, staring at her. …No, they weren't just looking at her, they were peering into her soul. It felt as though its eyes were somehow clawing at her soul, trying to drag her into the unnatural darkness. "_**You will never escape me!**_"

Fear gripped Azula. A fear far greater than anything she had ever experienced. She took a few steps back, the darkness creeping towards her. Azula spun around and ran as fast as her legs would take her.

She didn't stop, even after the presence seemed to disappear. Azula didn't care. She just wanted out of this accursed place. Ultimately, she was stopped when she tripped over a root, sending her fact first into the waters of the swamp.

Azula gathered her wits and rose up back to her feet, pushing wet strands of hair from her face. Before her was an older girl with her back to her. The girl was only a few inches taller than Azula, with black hair kept in a loose, long ponytail, reaching down from a small topknot on the back of her head. Her skin was tanned. She wore simple clothes of Fire Nation design. Black leather boots and dark red baggy pants. Her top however was hidden by a long coat. It too was of Fire Nation design and color. But on the back of the red coat were four black symbols. The symbols of the four elements. In the girl's left hand was the most unusual staff that Azula has ever seen. It appeared to be carved from wood yet shone as though were made of metal. The staff was as long as the girl has tall and on its head was a roaring dragon's head.

"Okay…" the girl said to herself as she looked around, still obvious to Azula's presence. "So where am I now?"

Suddenly, she turned around and both gasped. Underneath the girl's coat was a simple red top that left her abdomen exposed. And she also wore a necklace of redish-brown beads around her neck. Azula knew that face, yet could not recognize the girl before her.

It was her face…

* * *

"Sokka! Azula!" Katara called out, standing on a large fallen log. "Can anybody hear me?"

But there was no reply, save for the sounds of insects and other nocturnal swamp animals. Katara sighed and sat down on the log. It would be pointless to go out and try to search for them in the dark. She'd just get lost. All she could do was wait until dawn, when there would be light to see with.

But at that very moment, Katara heard a loud, hacking cough from nearby. She turned towards the sound, wondering if she did hear something. "Is someone there?"

There was another cough and Katara stood up. There was definitely someone nearby. Someone who was too sick or injured to respond. She had to help them. "Hold on," she called out, approaching the area the coughs came from. "I'm coming to help you."

But she wasn't prepared for what she was about to see.

Katara gasped at the sight before her. There was Azula, standing on her knees between two iron pillars. Her hands were encased in iron shackles that were jutting from the sides of the pillars. There was a heavy iron collar wrapped around her neck, four chains were extending from the collar to metal rings on the front and sides of the pillars. She wore a tattered and dirty simple red dress, like the kind a beggar or a prisoner would wear. Her hair was long again, though course and matted. Azula looked haggard and disheveled, and her skin was badly sunburned. She had to have been chained like that outside for days.

But it didn't make sense. How did Azula end up here in chains, in clothes she didn't have, and with long hair again?

Suddenly, Azula let out some loud, hacking coughs before raising her head up, staring straight at Katara. "Come to visit me…" she rasped before coughing again. "Come to gloat…over the beaten and…_betrayed_…Avatar… I'm sure you're…loving this…traitor… You have…everything you're ever…wanted now…"

"No…" Katara uttered, horrified at her words. She was going to betray Azula? It didn't make sense. She'd never do that. "This isn't what I wanted Azula. I-"

Azula let out a bitter, hacking laugh. "What did you…expect would happen? I'm the enemy…remember… This is…what they were…going to do from…the start… So when is my…execution set? I imagine…it will be a…grand event… I can picture it now…"

Katara couldn't take it anymore. She ran, tears sliding down her cheeks, ignoring the rest of Azula's words as she sought a way to escape from the sight before her.

* * *

"Oh…I had nearly forgotten about this moment…It just seemed like so long ago," the golden-eyed girl said. "Hello Azula. I know this is going to sound unbelievable, but I'm you."

Azula shook her head, unable to believe what was happening. "Impossible. This can't be happening. It's…it's…it's impossible!"

"No. It's not impossible," the other girl replied. "You are right now in the Great Swamp, one of the places where the mortal world and the Spirit World meet. As a result, many who come here are struck by visions of people and things that have happened and will happen. Though us being able to interact with each other is unusual. It could be because we're the Avatar or it could be because you're here and I'm trapped in the Spirit World, likely in the part of the Swamp that is in the Spirit World. Or it could just be a random freak occurrence. …Or perhaps time is just an illusion. I don't really know."

Azula started shaking, trying to deny the person before her. "You can't be me! This has to be some kind of trick!"

"Of course I'm you. I'm just you over a year from now, carrying out my duties as Avatar," the older girl replied. "I was at the Western Air Temple, training-"

"No!" Azula screamed. "I am Azula! Princess of the Fire Nation and future Fire Lord! I am not the Avatar!"

Her older self took a step back, her eyes locked on Azula. "…Was I really that bad back then?" she asked more to herself than anyone else. "I'm surprised that Katara and the others could stand being around me back then," she mused for a moment before turning her attention back to Azula. "I know at the moment that this sounds strange and impossible, and you're desperately trying to rationalize this, that you don't want to accept what destiny has thrust upon you, and you know what, that's fine. I remember being you and how hard it was when I had lost everything I had held dear at the time. But you're at the beginning of a journey that will change you in more ways than one. It will be a long, hard and at times, painful, road, but you'll find that when it ends, you wouldn't have wanted it any other way."

"I don't believe you," Azula snapped, refusing to her words. They were utterly impossible. She would betray her father or her nation. She shook her head. "You're nothing but a hallucination."

"A hallucination?"

"Yes. Clearly I hit my head when I fell and this is nothing but hallucination brought about by the concussion."

Her older self shook her head. "Believe what you want, but it won't change things," she replied, leaning on her staff. "We were never destined to be Fire Lord."

"That's a lie!"

"It's the truth. We are the Avatar, the one who will end the war and restore the balance to the Four Nations."

"No! I am not the Avatar!" Azula screamed at the top of her lungs, trying to deny everything that had befallen her since the South Pole.

* * *

"We have to find my sister," Sokka demanded, following after the traveler. "She's out there alone somewhere."

"It's too dangerous," the traveler replied, carefully stepping onto a huge tree root. "There's night predators prowling around, and something much worse."

"What?" Sokka asked, growing increasingly worried for his sister.

"I don't know," he admitted. "But the last several nights I've been attacked by seemingly lifeless vines. But not tonight, I managed to find myself a hiding spot for the night when I heard you stomping around the swamp like an idiot."

"Hey!"

"Our best bet is to wait out the night and look for her in the morning."

Sokka grabbed him by the shoulder and spun him around. "My little sister is out there! We need to find her before something out there gets her!"

"Its pitch black out there," the traveler snapped. "If you go out there now, you'll just get lost as well. We have to wait until morning before we can start looking."

"But-" Sokka started, only to have the traveler raise his free hand up, cutting him off.

"Wait. Do you here that?" he asked, glancing over his shoulder.

Sokka raised an eyebrow. "I don't hear anything."

But the traveler ignored him, listening to the sound. "It sounds like…crying."

"Crying?" Sokka paused for a moment before realizing who it could be. "Katara! Which way?"

"This way," the traveler said, taking off into the darkness, Sokka right behind him.

After what seemed like an eternity of running, Sokka began to hear the faint sobs as well. "Katara!" he shouted. "Katara! Can you hear me?"

"Sokka?" a voice called back. Katara's voice. "Where are you?"

Sokka breathed out a sigh of relief as they continued approaching where his sister was. "I'm close! Just keep shouting!"

"Okay! Is Azula with you?"

"No! I don't know where she is!"

"Probably took the bison and left us here," Sokka added under his breath.

"We have to find her!" his sister replied, her voice growing louder. They were getting closer.

"Katara! Can you see the torch?" Sokka asked.

"Yes! I see it!"

"That's us! Come to the light!"

"Us? I thought you said that Azula wasn't with you!"

"No, it's not her! It's a guy I found!"

"As I recall, I found you and stopped you from getting yourself killed," the traveler commented.

Sokka opened his mouth, but at that moment, Katara emerged from the darkness. Her eyes were red and puffy from crying, but otherwise she was fine. Without saying anything, she grabbed Sokka in a hug, burying her face into his shoulder. "Are you alright?" he asked, concerned over what had happened to her.

Katara hesitated, unsure of what to say. "You saw something," the traveler said. "It's this wretched place. It gets in your head, showing you things that aren't real, people that are long dead. I've been seeing them ever since I made the mistake of coming to this place."

At that moment, it dawned on Sokka what he had seen earlier. The swamp had shown him a beautiful girl, drawing him in, tricking him into nearly running into a bog. He had an idea what Katara could have seen. "It was mom, wasn't it?"

Katara nodded her head, but didn't say anything. Sokka began to rub her back reassuringly. "It's alright Katara. It wasn't real."

"Yes. Whatever you saw was nothing more than a hallucination," the traveler said. "Just ignore them and you'll be fine. Oh, and forgive me for not properly introducing myself." He pulled off his hat, revealing his messy dark-brown hair, bowing. "I am Tenzo. Just Tenzo."

* * *

"So you say," the older Azula calmly said, raising her right fist and extending two fingers. A small blue fire appeared above her fingers. "But that doesn't change things." She pulled her fingers back, extinguishing the flame and then she stomped her foot on the swamp floor. A pillar of stone rose up from the water, stopping at the height of her shoulder. "We were chosen for this." She then moved her right hand over the swamp water, moving it circular motions. Below her hand, the water began to turn and spin. A tendril of water emerged, directed by the older Azula. She guided it to the stone pillar. The water slowly coiled around the rock, creeping up towards the top of it. When it reached the top, she blew on it, freezing it into a serpent of pale green ice. "And destiny allows for no argument." Taking the staff in two hands, she spun it over her head. Suddenly, the winds picked up, gathering over her staff, beginning to form a small tornado. Leaves and small branches were picked up by the winds, circling endlessly above her. But as quickly as she started, she stopped. The branches fell, splashing into the water while the leaves lazily drifted down.

"I know you Azula. You'll fighting against destiny, denying it, refusing it, lashing out at it, running from it, but you will never escape it," she said, moving towards Azula. "It will outlast you, wearing you down, breaking your resolve, changing you, reshaping you."

Fear and panic gripped Azula. She couldn't think straight, a thousand thoughts racing through her mind. As the hallucination, vision, spirit, whatever, approached her, Azula stepped back. At that moment, she wanted nothing more than to get away from this girl, out of this swamp, out of this whole situation she was trapped in, back to when everything made sense.

Suddenly, Azula backed into a tree, stopping her. Her older self stood before her, mere inches from her. "Until one day, you will find yourself realizing just how pointless all that time and energy you spent fighting it really was." A smile spread across her lips. "But you will never be alone, no matter how hard you push against them; your friends will be by your side the whole time. Well, in spirit at the very least."

Azula shook her head. "You can't be me," she uttered.

"Why? Because I'm not a serious, self-obsessed, manipulative perfectionist? And of course, about a dozen or so other things that Sokka and Toph would add if they were here." Azula was stunned, unable to respond. "I've come a long way, just as you will." She paused for a moment before adding, "Before I forget, after you leave the North Pole, it's vital that you head to the cities Omashu and Gaoling. In that order."

"North Pole? I have no intention of going there."

An amused grin spread across her older self's face. "That's what I said when I was you, but it won't change what will happen. Like I said, Omashu and Gaoling after the North Pole. That's where you'll find what you're looking for after you leave the North Pole."

"Quit talking like that," Azula snapped. "Quit talking like you know everything that's going to happen!"

"Oh? Don't like hearing what you're going to do? I mean _we_ did finally bring an end to the war and _we_ did become the world's greatest bender. I would think that you would love to hear that."

Azula recognized that tone. She had used it numerous times before on other people. The idea of someone using it on her was enraging. "Don't you dare try to play me!"

"Play you?" she said in _her_ tone of mock innocence. "I'm not trying to play you. I'm merely stating the facts. You are the Avatar. You'll master waterbending, earthbending and airbending in the many months to come. You'll see and experience incredible and terrible things. You'll travel to the four corners of the world. You'll be there when Zuzu is crowned Fire Lord. And… you'll battle our father."

"That's a lie!" Azula screamed. "I would _never_ betray father! I would _never _fight him!"

Her older self sighed. She opened her mouth to speak, but suddenly, her body began to fade in and out. "Well… It looks like our connection is fading," she said. "This is where we part ways." She bowed, grinning once more. "To days come, Azula. To days to come…"

With that, she vanished completely and Azula was alone once more, staring at the stone pillar and the slowly melting ice on top of it.

* * *

"So how did you end up here Tenzo?" Katara asked as they headed to Tenzo's camp.

"Well… I kind of have a bounty on my head," Tenzo answered.

The siblings were surprised by this. "A bounty? You're a criminal?" Sokka exclaimed

"No, it's all a misunderstanding. I've been accused of stealing ancient Earth Kingdom relics from some pompous rich family from Gaoling."

"But you didn't, right?"

"Of course not," Tenzo replied. "Theft implies ownership, and you can't own something that rightfully belongs to all the people of the Earth Kingdom. I merely liberated the relics and sent them to the University of Ba Sing Se, where they'll be on display for all to see and enjoy."

Sokka blinked. "That's called _stealing_!"

Tenzo shrugged his shoulders. "Again, stealing implies that those relics belonged to them. They don't. Those relics are our shared past. They belong to all of us, not just the rich."

"But you're still a thief," Sokka shot back.

"One man's thief is another man's liberator of wrongfully hoarded knowledge and treasures."

Sokka shook his head and rolled his eyes. "Okay, so you're an _accused_ thief. How did you end up here, in the swamp?"

"Like I said, I had a bounty on my head from the people I liberated those relics from. And that attracted…_her_," Tenzo explained, both siblings noting the different tone he used at the end. "I managed to elude her by coming here."

"Who's her?" Katara asked, curious as to his hunter.

"She's… well… a very difficult woman. Fortunately, Nyla was unwilling to follow me into the swamp. And I've been here for several days, trying to decide what to do next."

"So what are you going to do?"

"I was hoping I could get out of here with you two."

"Oh no," Sokka said, shaking his head. "It's bad enough we have one person with a bounty on their head, we're not traveling with a second."

"Hey! I saved your life back there and helped you find your sister," Tenzo replied. "If it wasn't for me, your sister would be lost and you'd be at the bottom of a bog. The least you could do is help me out here."

"He does have a point," Katara added. "It's no big deal if we can find the camp and Sora."

"Sora?"

"Our flying bison."

"A flying what-now?"

"A flying bison."

"That doesn't seem physically possible."

"Well it is. We have a flying bison," Sokka said. "It's big, furry and flies."

Tenzo stared at him for a moment and then shook his head. "…I just can't picture that. It seems too crazy."

"That about sums up what are lives have been like for the last few weeks," Sokka replied. "Running from Fire Nation soldiers with the Fire Nation Princess who may or may not be the Avatar, meeting with a crazed Alchemist and an old Fire Nation soldier who's now fighting the Fire Nation and nearly having my nose ripped out fire-breathing lizard, all in the last few weeks."

"Suddenly my life is starting to seem fairly normal," Tenzo dryly commented.

"Look! The sun's rising," Katara said, pointing to the east.

Light was beginning to filter in through the trees in the east. It was dawn. "Well, the night is finally ending," Tenzo said.

"Then we should start looking for Azula and find our camp."

"Yeah but we don't know where she is," Sokka pointed out. "She was fighting the vines when they dragged us away."

"Well then let's see if we can find our camp first. If she's there then-"

Tenzo, who was staring off into the nearby trees, raised his hand up and silenced Katara. "Someone's coming."

Sokka cautiously drew his knife while Katara pulled the water from her water skin, both ready for a fight. A figure emerged from the brush and trees.

It was Azula, but she looked rather haggard and… a little scared.

"Azula, are you alright?" Katara asked, concerned for the girl.

"I'm fine," Azula replied, but she was clearly shaken up by something. "Let's get out of here now."

Suddenly, a monster rose up from the swamp waters. It was huge, hunched-over creature, covered in numerous vines and moss. Its face appeared to be a carved piece of tree bark. "What is that?" Sokka shouted.

"Our attacker, Water Boy," Azula replied, slipping into her fighting stance.

The vine monster lashed out at them with its arm, the four teens dove out of the way just in time. Sokka jumped up to his feet and roared as he raced towards the creature's limb. He hacked at the thing's hand, screaming at the top of his lungs. Sokka managed to cut through a quarter of its hand before the beast struck back, sending him flying into the swamp water below.

At the same time, Katara jumped down from the giant branch they had been on, landing in the water. As her brother landed, she lashed out, striking at the monster with jets of water. The water tore through parts of its body, but within seconds, new vines grew in, effectively healing the creature. It countered, slamming its hand down on Katara, who narrowly avoided the huge limb.

Elsewhere, Tenzo pulled out a small gourd, pulling the quark out and drinking some of the contents. He jumped down, landing near the bottom of the creature and pulled his torch in front of his face, spitting out the liquid into the fire. A stream of fire struck the beast, lighting the vines on fire.

The monster flailed around, splashing water into the growing fire on its body. Once the fire was out, it punched Tenzo, throwing him back. At that moment, Azula struck, throwing fire at it from above. Fire consumed its shoulders and it flailed its arms, trying to put out the fires. But Azula didn't give it the chance, hitting it with more and more fire.

Suddenly, the flaming vine creature just collapsed, falling into the water, leaving a single man, standing amid the brunt and still burning vines. The gray-haired man wore nothing but a simple loincloth made from leaves.

"Why did you try to kill us?" Azula demanded, ready for anything that he may still have. She then glanced over at Tenzo, who was picking himself up. "And who are you?"

"Tenzo," he replied, pulling a swamp vine off his hat. "I've been helping your friends. Other than that, I'm just a humble traveler."

Azula nodded, accepting his answer for now. His claim of being a humble traveler was a lie. She could tell that. Azula had managed to see the inside of his cloak for a brief moment. If he was a humble traveler, she was the daughter of an Earth Kingdom farmer.

She focused her attention back on the man. "Kill you?" The man shook his head. "No. I was merely trying to scare you all off. I thought you might be trying to hurt the swamp like those dark ones that came a week ago."

Azula raised an eyebrow. "Dark ones?"

"Yes. I don't know what they were, but the mere presence of them upset the swamp terribly," the man replied. "I was afraid that you were going to do the same."

Azula lowered her arms. This man didn't appear to be much of a threat now, nor did he appear to be lying. "What is this place? And what exactly did I see here?"

"If you'd follow me, I'll show you," the man said, climbing up the giant tree roots.

The four teens followed after him, climbing up the giant roots and branches, reaching above the tree line, stopping at a truly mammoth tree, standing at the very center of the swamp.

Tenzo whistled, staring out over the entire swamp. "This is one big tree. I never thought they grew this big, expect for the mystical ones in legends."

"Don't kid yourself," Azula said. "This isn't a mystical place. It's just a tree that has been growing for hundreds and hundreds of years without man or nature to stop it."

"Oh, but the swamp is mystical place alright. It's sacred," the man said, moving closer to the tree. "I reached enlightenment here, sitting under the banion grove tree. I heard it calling me."

Azula rolled her eyes at the man's words. "Sure ya did," Sokka sarcastically said. "It sounds real chatty."

'_My thoughts exactly, Water Boy,'_ Azula thought.

But the man didn't seem to notice the sarcasm and continued explaining things. "See, this whole swamp is actually just one tree spread out over miles. Branches spread, then sink and take root, and then spread some more. One big living organism; just like the entire world."

"That just sounds silly," Azula replied. "How can a tree be anything like the entire world?"

"Think about it. Are you any different from me or your friends or this tree? If you listen hard enough, you can hear every living thing breathing together. You can feel everything growing. We're all living together, even if most folks don't act like it. We all have the same roots and we are all branches of the same tree."

"But what about the things we saw?" Katara asked. "Were they real?"

"In the swamp, we see visions of people we've lost, people we loved, folks we think are gone. But the swamp tells us they're not; we're still connected to 'em. Time is an illusion and so is death," he explained.

"I know what I saw. And it wasn't someone from my past," Azula replied, growing annoyed at the man. "So what did I see?"

"You're the Avatar, you tell me."

Azula froze for a moment, unable to find the right words as her mind went back to her encounter.

"The swamp told me who you are after we fought," the man said, answering her unspoken question.

For reasons she couldn't answer, Azula's tongue and her mouth moved, speaking something she had heard twice already in this place. Time is an illusion…" she uttered, truly realizing just what she had experienced. "What I saw…the person I saw…"

The man smiled and nodded. "Yes, someone important to you that you have yet to meet."

Azula became noticeably pale by his announcement. But unnoticed by anyone else, Katara was just as pale.

"I don't mean to interrupt, but we kind of need to find our camp and our bison," Sokka said.

"Actually, your friends came here before you did," the man said before whistling.

Sora suddenly flew up from the beneath the tree line, landing next to the group. "Shirshu spit!" Tenzo exclaimed in disbelief. "It's a flying bison!"

"Your friends are quite smart, you know," the man said, patting Sora's cheek. "Somehow they knew you'd be here, so they came and waited here for you." He turned to the teens. "I imagine you're all quite hungry and could use some breakfast. My kin and I would be more than happy to provide you with a good meal."

"Really? Well then, let's go grab a bite," Sokka eagerly said, already salivating at thought of breakfast.

But the minds of Katara and Azula were elsewhere, despite their own hunger. Back to what they experienced in the swamp and the idea that those were glimpses into their futures, uneasy about what could happen.

* * *

And done!

The idea of Azula meeting herself from post-Sozin's Comet, was something that I had come up with fairly early on. I loved the idea as soon as I had it and I knew I was going to keep it from the start. And there will be a chapter where we see from the point of view of future Azula.

Also, in regards to future Azula's ability to bend despite being in the Spirit World, as she said, the swamp is a place where the two worlds meet. As a result of being on the border of the two worlds, she was able to bend there. At least, that's my interpretation on what the Swamp is. As to how she knew that she would be able to, she simply remembered seeing it when she was the present Azula.

The other big reason I loved this chapter was the introduction of Tenzo. From the start I wanted to add an OC to the group. But I kept on coming up with a number of different OCs. From a ninja to a shaman to a samurai to a thief, just to name a few of them. Finally, I came up with Tenzo, combining elements of several of them into one. And happy with how he turned out. Though some of the other characters will appear as secondary characters down the road.

Next up, the Winter Solstice and the Reunion.

And as always, review!


	9. Book 1: Chapter 9

Yo everybody! Originally, I wasn't going to have this chapter up yet, but in the the last few weeks, it's gotten some major traffic which surprised me. Then I discovered that another site that lists popular fanfics for various series, has this story on the list. Which surprised me even more. I never thought something like that would happen for any of my stories. But it appears that I was mistaken about that. Anyway, that and the sudden influx of new readers urged me on. So enjoy.

**Chapter Nine: Avatar Roku  
**

Iroh watched as his nephew stood at the bow of the ship, once more staring out at the horizon as they drew ever closer to Crescent Island. The aging general could only imagine what Zuko was thinking at that moment. The fact that Ozai was now welcoming Zuko back without the Avatar filled Iroh with worry. He knew that Ozai held no true love for his son, or for his daughter for that matter. As far as Ozai was concerned, Zuko was a weak, pitiful disappoint, and Azula was his now _former_ loyal tool.

The old firebender let out a wary sigh. More and more his thoughts seemed to drift back and forth between his nephew and niece. He had never been close to his niece. During much of the early years of her life, he had been off to war. …And a very different man. When he had visited the girl after she was out of diapers, Azula was already under Ozai's sway. Even more so after Ozai became Fire Lord. Iroh had tried to form a real relationship with her, but she proved to be too difficult to reach and he eventually gave up, focusing his attention on Zuko. Though a part of him had always regretted that he given up on her so quickly, especially after observing one of Ozai's firebending lessons…

"_Again Azula," Ozai demanded as Iroh stared out over the courtyard from a balcony._

_A pair of Royal Guard firebenders flanked the tiring nine year old, ready to unleash another attack on the girl. Azula, panting heavily as beads of sweat slid down her brow, moved back into the required stance for the exercise. The first firebender struck low, sending a stream of fire across the ground while the other struck high, throwing a fireball at her. Azula flipped into the air. As she soared over the stream, her hands urged the fire forward while her spinning legs forced the fireball around her. While the ground fire flew towards one of the firebenders, forcing them to leap out of the way, Azula's aim with the fireball was off and it scorched the ground a fair distance from the other bender._

"_Wrong again!" the Fire Lord snapped._

"_But-but I was almost perfect," Azula stammered, fearful of her father's anger._

_Iron had to admit, for a nine year old, it was very, very impressive. Especially for one that was clearly fatigued nine year old. Unfortunately, Ozai didn't see it that way._

"_Almost perfect?"_

_CRACK!_

_Azula flinched as the fire whip missed her by mere inches. "Almost perfect is never good enough Azula. You will not be a disappointment like Zuko. You will be perfect."_

"_Y-yes father," Azula uttered as she prostrated herself before Ozai, sounding completely and utterly desperate to please the man._

Iroh shook his head, pushing away the memories of the past. There was nothing that could be done to change the past; he needed to focus on the here and now.

With that, he began to approach his nephew. "Prince Zuko, are you sure that we should be doing this?"

Zuko looked over his shoulder as the elder firebender stopped next to him. "Uncle, you read the message yourself," he said. "Father wants to end my banishment."

Iroh shook his head. "No. He said he wanted to talk to you about ending your banishment, he never said that he was going to. I know my brother; he is not one to forgive lightly."

"Maybe he's changed. After everything that has happened, maybe he's had a change of heart," Zuko replied, a hopeful edge to his voice.

"Perhaps," Iroh admitted, scratching his beard. _'Or perhaps he's merely using you as shield against his enemies within the Fire Nation.'_

Many, many years ago, when Iroh had been a much younger man, he had learned the ways of the politics of the Fire Nation Court. Unlike his brother, he despised the honorless tactics and games of the nobles of the Court. Back then, he had been a warrior and leader of men, not a man of Court politics and games, until it had cost him dearly. But from what he had learned of politics, a Fire Lord always needed to appear strong and always needed an equally strong heir, and preferably one that was held in high regard by the people. For the fires of passion burned brightest in the people of the Fire Nation. Their drive and ambition was far greater than that of the people of the other Nations, providing them with many advantages over their neighbors such as their superior industry, but it also had a downside. Excessive ambition had led to more than a few becoming obsessive, desiring more and more than what they had. Like a wild fire, consuming more and more as it grew into a raging inferno. And nowhere was that more personified than in the upper echelons of the Fire Nation nobility and military.

Iroh knew all too well that if his nephew was not careful, he would be swept up and devoured by the greedy and ambitious as a shield for a man who cared nothing for him.

But the ex-General knew that Zuko would not listen to him on this matter.

After all, how do you convince a son that his father despises him?

* * *

Fire Lord Ozai stood atop the observation deck of his personal ship, staring at Crescent Island as the ship drew closer to the island. There was no sign of Zuko's vessel yet. He had wanted to deal with Zuko as quickly as possible before turning his attention to the Fire Sages. Their incompetence in detecting the rebirth of the Avatar was unbelievable. At best, it proved that Fire Sages were liars and no longer useful to the Fire Nation, at worst, they were outright traitors.

He wasn't sure what angered him more, the incompetent Fire Sages or bring Zuko back. Had it been up to him, Ozai would have let the boy wander the world forever. But things had turned against him; first, with Azula and the revelation that she was the Avatar, followed with the plots and attempts by those within his Nation to remove him.

Like piranha-sharks that had caught the scent of blood of water, the powerful and ambitious nobles and military leaders of the Fire Nation were circling him, eager to strike him down and take _his_ Throne. While he would like nothing more than to get rid of them all, unfortunately, he could not. He needed his admirals and generals to lead the military might of the Fire Nation while the war still reigned and he would need the nobles to rule as regional governors and administrators of the lands of the Earth Kingdom and Water Tribes once the war was over. As much as he hated to admit it, he needed Zuko, if nothing more than to strengthen their dynasty and to ward off the potential usurpers.

At that moment, his newest advisor stepped onto the deck. "Tell me, have you ever heard of the Oracles of Senkensha?" he asked, not bothering to turn to him.

Shirada, a Lord Assassin of the Order of the Obsidian Flame, approached his side, bowing before him. "The daughters of the Great Seer?" he replied, looking up at the Fire Lord. "I had heard of them in myths and stories only."

"They are real. I have met them," Ozai said, motioning for him to rise. "Years ago, before I had met my wife, I was a Captain in the Navy. One night, my ship was ambushed by cowardly pirates, thinking that they could overwhelm and take a lone warship. They were gravely mistaken. But the vile rats managed to severely damage my ship, leaving us crippled in the middle of the ocean. Slowly limping back to the nearest port, we came across an uncharted island. The island seemed to call to me… I was compelled to set foot on it." Ozai paused, as though lost in his memories. "The Oracles were there, waiting for me."

"And what did they tell you?" his advisor asked.

"Many, many things. They told me that Iroh would have a single son, Lu Ten, and would lose his wife in childbirth, and that his son would die at Ba Sing Se as well as that he would never sit on the Throne. After they spoke of Iroh, they told of when I would first meet the woman would become my wife, of our two children, one of spectacular ability. They saw how my sacrifices would ultimately reward me with the Crown. All of which has since come true."

"But that wasn't all, was it my Lord?"

Ozai shook his head. "No. They told me things that have not yet come to pass. They told me that I would be the last Fire Lord before the end of this war. However, they prophesized that as I would take the throne from my father, Azulon; my firstborn would take the throne from me."

"Ah, so that's why you despised your son and eventually banished him."

"No, not entirely. He's a pathetic and weak child. Even had I not received that prophecy, I would have done the same. Zuko is unfit to be my son, much less my heir. I am only ending his banishment because it suits me at the moment. But as long as I draw breath, Zuko will never have the Throne."

Shirada bowed his head. "Of course my Lord." He paused for a moment before adding, "Was that all they told you?"

"At the end, the Seers told me that I would either bring about an Age of Order, or I would die by the Avatar's hand."

"Is that why you tried to capture Azula the instant you saw her waterbend?" Shirada asked.

"Yes. They told me that only the Avatar could stop the Age of Order I would bring," he answered. "Had they named Azula has the Avatar, I would strangled her years ago while she was still in the crib." He turned to Shirada. There was only cold truth in his eyes. Shirada didn't doubt for an instant that the Fire Lord's words true. "I will not let _anyone_ stop the coming of my Age of Order."

"Nor will the Order of the Obsidian Flame, my Lord."

* * *

"So how much longer will it be?" Katara asked.

"We're nearly there," Azula answered, holding Sora's reins, guiding the beast towards the Fire Temple.

"I don't know about the rest of you, but I'll be happy when this day is over," Sokka said. "The idea of setting foot on the Fire Nation with just the three of us-"

Tenzo loudly cleared his throat as he petted Hisaki. Unlike Sokka, the young wyvern liked the newest edition to their group.

"With just the _four_ of us sounds more like suicide than anything else." Sokka then turned to Tenzo. "And why are you still with us?"

The teen shrugged. "I'm merely helping you guys out after you helped get me out of the Swamp," he replied. "I figured that you could use the help. If I'm wrong, I'll just get off the next time we're in the Earth Kingdom."

Katara shook her head. "No. I'm sure we could use the help," she said.

"Great. We're getting help from criminals now," her brother grumbled.

"You know that technically you're criminals as well," Tenzo replied.

Sokka rapidly opened and closed his mouth, trying to come up with something to say, earning giggles from his sister. "He does have a point Sokka," she said. "We are wanted by the Fire Nation."

However, before the Water Tribe teen could respond, Azula suddenly began to shout, shaking her head in denial. "No…no, no, no!"

Everyone turned to the Princess, wondering and worried about what could have set her off like that. "What is it?" Katara asked.

Azula pointed dead ahead, at the island that had been unnoticed by the three up until that point. Resting in the merger dock of Crescent Island was a small vessel, standing alongside a massive gilded Fire Nation warship. A vessel that Azula, Sokka and Katara recognized right away.

"That the Fire Lord's ship!" Sokka exclaimed, his voice filled with fear. "We got to get out of here before they see us!"

There was a moment of silence before Azula answered. "No."

Sokka's eyes widened as he stared incredulously at the girl. "Are you crazy? The Fire Lord's there, along with who knows how many hundreds of firebenders and soldiers!"

Azula said nothing.

"Hello? Are you listening?"

"Azula… Maybe we should rethink this," Katara added, worried about how this could all turn out.

"I know what I'm doing," the firebender replied, her tone leaving no room for argument as she urged Sora down towards the temple.

But even had one of them tried to argue with her, they wouldn't have gotten far as Azula leaped from Sora's head, falling down towards the temple. She thrust her arms forward, twin jets of fire streaking from her hands, slowing her fall. Azula hit the roof, briefly rolling as she landed. She got to her feet, rushing to the edge of the roof. Spinning as she dropped off the roof, Azula grabbed on to the ledge, allowing her to swing down onto the next level of the temple, giving her access to the open windows.

Overhead, Sora flew past the temple as Sokka climbed onto her head, grabbing the reins. "Wow… I didn't know firebenders could do that," Tenzo commented, looking back at the towering building.

Sokka breathed out a sigh of relief. "Finally, no more crazy Fire Princess bossing us around," he said, clearly pleased that Azula was gone. "Let's get out of here."

"No Sokka. We're not leaving her behind," Katara insisted. "Turn us around."

"What?" Sokka exclaimed, stunned by his sister's demand. "But that place is crawling with Fire Nation soldiers!"

"Set us down behind the temple, away from the port," she replied. "Hopefully, they won't spot us."

* * *

Silently and carefully, Azula crept through the halls of the temple, pressing her bodies against the walls and whatever shadows she came across. Fortunately, aside from a few of the younger sages-in-training there were no others in the upper levels of the temple. Unfortunately, she had no idea where she needed to go. While Azula suspected that she had to go into either the main shrine of the temple or the temple sanctuary, she had never set foot in the temple and had no idea where they were located.

And then were the soldiers within the temple. It was going to be difficult to say the least. Her only chance was to stay hidden.

Something she would not have been able to achieve with the others around her. They would only get in the way.

* * *

With their ship docked, Zuko and his uncle disembarked, leaving Jee and the rest of the crew behind. The Prince paused as he reached the end of the ramp. This would be the first time he had set foot on Fire Nation soil since his banishment, yet the Avatar was not in his custody. A part of him was actually a little afraid to place his foot on the dock, having never completed the task to regain his honor.

But that brief moment of hesitation passed and Zuko set his foot down.

He didn't feel any different. His honor was still lost.

Zuko began walk towards the towering Fire Temple, stopping shortly afterwards, realizing that his uncle was not following him. He glanced over his shoulder at Iroh, who stood at the end of the ramp looking up at the temple.

"Uncle, are you coming?" the teen asked.

"Hmm?" Iroh said, turning to nephew. "Oh, I was just admiring the temple. I haven't come here since… A very long time."

"Are you coming or not?"

The older firebender nodded. "Of course."

With that, the two headed for the long path that led to the temple, ignoring the soldiers that were standing guard.

When they finally reached the temple entrance, a group of Royal Guards greeted them, leading them to the doors to the central shrine of the Fire Temple. The doors were closed, with more Royal Guard holding watch. But there was one other with them. A man clad in unusual clothes.

The man was clad almost entirely in black. He wore black leather boots, black pants and shirt; however the details of his clothes and body were hidden beneath a black hooded cloak, held together by a metal clasp that had been shaped into a leering skull. His face was concealed by a white, grinning demon mask, trimmed in black with the symbol of a black dragon circling a black five-pronged fire on its forehead.

"Greetings Prince Zuko, General Iroh," the man greeted. "I am Shirada. An advisor to the Fire Lord."

"And since when has my brother sought aid from the Obsidian Flame?" Iroh asked, a tone in his voice that Zuko had never heard from him before.

Hatred.

It scared Zuko a little to hear that tone coming from his good-natured uncle. He could only imagine what had happened for his uncle to hate this man before them.

But Shirada ignored the retired general. "The Fire Lord is waiting for the Prince. I doubt we should keep him waiting."

Without saying another word, the two started approaching the large doors, only for Shirada to raise his hand, stopping the pair. "The Fire Lord wishes to speak with his son _alone_, General Iroh," he informed them. "However, you are free to wait here."

Zuko turned to his uncle who simply waved back. "No, that's alright," he said, his cheerful demeanor returning. "I think I shall wander around the temple for awhile. So don't worry about me."

* * *

"This is a bad idea," Sokka whispered as the trio hid behind a large pillar, waiting for a patrol to pass by them.

"Quiet," Tenzo ordered, keeping his voice low as he peered around the pillar.

Moments later, the two men had moved away from them. "Now," the thief said, sprinting towards a nearby side hallway, the Water Tribe siblings close behind him.

After ducking into the three paused for a moment, double-checking that the coast was clear. "I'm surprised that there aren't more soldiers here," Katara commented as they resumed sneaking into the temple.

"We're lucky," Tenzo replied, his tone serious. "The Fire Lord didn't know we were coming here. Otherwise there would have been more than just these few dozen guards here."

"Lucky? How's this lucky?" Sokka exclaimed, barely keeping his voice down.

"Keep it down," Tenzo snapped. "We are quite lucky as that ship could easily hold several hundred men, who could be patrolling every square inch of this place instead of waiting aboard the vessel. Besides, I've snuck into more heavily guarded places than this."

"Of course, I forgot. We're traveling with a _glorious_ thief here," the Water Tribe teen said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

Tenzo glared back at Sokka. "I suggest that you shut up and listen to me if you want us to get out of here in one piece. I know what I'm doing."

At that moment, a door in the hallway opened. The three teens froze as did the gray haired, red robed man who entered the hallway. For what seemed like an eternity, none of them said a word.

Tenzo was the first to react, reaching into his cloak for something when the Fire Sage raised his hands up in front of him. "Wait," he said. "I'm not an enemy. I know you're here with the Avatar and I want to help you."

"What do you mean?" Katara asked, standing ready for anything that the sage may try.

"My name is Shyu," he replied. "I am one of the Sages of this temple. And I have seen you and your brother in my dreams. Avatar Roku himself told me to help you and the current Avatar as best as I could."

"Wait. I thought you guys serve Fire Lord," Sokka said, practically accusing the man of crime from his tone. "So why do you want to help us?"

Shyu's expression saddened. "Most of my fellow Sages have long since sided with the Fire Lords, we did not always obey the will of our rulers. There was a time when we served the Avatar and the Spirits, like the priesthoods of the other Nations. But when the war started, we were bullied into serving the Fire Lords or face death. It's been so long that many have forgotten the old ways," he explained. "And we have been punished for our misdeeds."

The sounds of footsteps echoed through the hall. "Come, we must hurry before anyone spots us," Shyu urged, leading them down the corridor. "Where is the Avatar?"

"Azula snuck in ahead of us," Katara answered.

Shyu stroked his goatee, thinking things over. "Does she know where to go?"

"…I don't know," the waterbender admitted.

The elder shook his head. "This is bad. If she enters the main shrine, she'll only come face to face with the-"

"Intruders!" a man shouted from behind the group.

The four of them instantly spun around; standing there was a young dark haired man in red robes. However, before any of them could move, the man took off, screaming as he ran.

Tenzo let out a curse as he shook his head. "So much for staying out of sight."

* * *

As the doors closed behind him, Zuko approached the Fire Lord, who was standing before the main shrine of the temple. The shrine consisted of a large tablet that depicted Agni, the first Fire Lord and firebender. He held one hand up, the emblem of the Fire Nation resting in it. Around the ancient lord were flying dragons, the great beings who taught Agni firebending. Sitting before the tablet was an altar, made of two gold dragons coiling up around a flame. Surrounding the dragons were numerous candles and incense burners.

Upon reaching the man, Zuko bowed low. "Father."

Ozai turned around, facing his son. "Rise Zuko," he said. "I trust you are well, my son."

Zuko rose back up to his feet. "Yes father," he replied with a nod.

"Good. As you know, things have taken an unexpected turn. Azula has revealed herself to be the Avatar and a traitor," the Fire Lord said to the Prince. "I'm sure you've heard by now that she tried to kill me."

Zuko's eyes widened in surprised. He hadn't he about that. "…She did?"

"Yes. We were returning from an inspection of the Southern Fleet when a storm forced us to detour to the south. It was there that some raiders from the Water Tribe attacked our ship, throwing us further off course. As we did battle, Azula snuck up on me, a dagger of ice in her hands," Ozai explained. "She planned to kill me, blaming it on pirates while taking the crown for herself. But she was no match for me. Like a coward, Azula fled after attempt failed. We would have chased after her were it not for those filthy Water savages."

Zuko couldn't believe it. Azula had always seemed so devoted to their father. Had it been an act? Did she truly just desire the Throne to the Fire Nation?

"I always knew that Azula was ambitious, dangerously ambitious," his father continued. "And deep down, I always knew that one day she would try to take the throne. From me and from you."

The Fire Lord turned back to the shrine, studying the fire at its center for a moment. "You were always the one I intended to succeed me," he announced.

The Fire Nation Prince was taken back by his father's words. But he had little time to take it in as Ozai continued. "I know the things I done seemed hard and cruel, but they were necessary. Being Fire Lord is a truly difficult task. Our Nation needs a strong ruler. A Fire Lord must be strong, not just in body, but in mind and spirit as well."

Ozai turned back to his son, no trace of deception on his face. "I did not punish you for speaking out in the War Council meeting, I was testing you. You had the courage to voice your option, yet you lacked the strength to defend it against others. And you were rightly disciplined for it. Your exile was itself intended to be a test for you, one that you passed."

Zuko's mind was spinning from everything that he had been told thus far. A multitude of emotions raged within him. Anger, shock, sorrow, even joy; all together in one wild storm. He had no idea how to react.

"You were given a task that most believed was a fool's errand. Yet never did you give up. Never did you lose focus on your goal regardless of how impossible it seemed. A Fire Lord must never lose sight of his goals," the Fire Lord continued, his words filling Zuko with a new emotion, pride.

However, doubts began to creep into Zuko's mind. If he had been made to endure all of this, why hadn't Lu Ten as well? His cousin had been the most likely out of his generation to become Fire Lord. Yet he could think of nothing that Lu Ten had experienced that was similar to what he had gone through. So then why had he been subjected to all of this?

"I had not planned for you to return until this summer, before the return of Sozin's Comet. On that day, we would stand side by side, bringing an end to this war." Ozai placed his hand on Zuko's shoulder a look of pride in his eyes, silencing all of the Prince's doubts. "However, Azula's betrayal has changed things. But we will deal with her in time my son and then we will end this war and bring a lasting peace to the world. Will you stand by my side and finish what Sozin started, my son?"

Zuko bowed before his father. "Yes father."

However, before their conversation could continue, one of the Royal Guards opened the doors. "A thousand pardons my Lord," the man said as he prostrated himself. "But there are intruders within the temple. Two of them appear to match the descriptions of those that are said to be traveling with Azula."

* * *

Azula stood before the massive door, studying it carefully. Upon the door were five coiling dragons, their open mouths silently roaring at her. She knew it was fire lock. There were a few like within the Palace and the Capital, guarding royal vaults, secret libraries, treasuries and the like. Unfortunately, it required five simultaneous fire blasts. Azula herself was only able to do two, maybe three. She wouldn't be able to get in without at least one other firebender, a good one.

"Hello Azula," a voice called out. "After I saw you land on the roof, I figured that you'd come here. It's been a while."

The Fire Princess spun around, slipping into a fighting stance. "Uncle," she replied.

Though she would never admit it out loud, Azula a little impressed with the fact her overweight uncle could actually sneak up on her.

"When I was your age, I was sneaking out of the Palace all the time," Iroh said casually as he approached her.

"So where's Zuzu?" she asked, not dropping her guard for a second.

"Speaking with your father," he answered. "But I haven't come to fight you."

"Why is Zuko here? He's been banished from the homeland."

Iroh shook his head. "Not any longer. He's welcoming Zuko back."

Azula's stance dropped slightly. "You're lying. Father would never welcome that failure back."

"He would if he no longer had an heir," the aging man countered.

His words tore at Azula. It was yet another reminder of everything she had lost. Azula scowled. "If you're not here to fight me, then leave. I don't have time to waste on you," she said, turning back to the door and its fire locks.

"I doubt even a prodigy like yourself could open this lock without assistance," Iroh comment, moving alongside the girl. "Would you like some help?"

Azula stared at her uncle, eyeing the grinning fat man warily. "Why are you offering to help me?"

"Do I need a reason?"

The young firebender turn away from Iroh, growing increasingly annoyed at him. "Fine."

"I will handle the three on the right," Iroh said, rubbing his hands together. "You can take the two on the left."

The Princess merely nodded her head. Both slipped into firebending stances. Azula threw her arms forward, creating two streams of fire while Iroh showed why he had been nicknamed the Dragon of the West, fire erupting out of his mouth as well as his hands. The five jets of fire poured into the dragons' mouths, triggering the locks. The central head turned upside-down and locked into place. After that, the heads of the other dragons slid down. With the locks disengaged, the doors slowly slid apart.

Azula didn't spare her uncle a second glance as she rushed into the sanctuary.

* * *

"Halt!" one of the soldiers shouted as he and his squad chased after the group.

But the teens and the old man ignored, running even faster; earning several fireballs from the Fire Nation soldiers. Sokka grabbed his sister and dove to the ground, narrowly evading one of the fireballs while both Tenzo and Shyu leaped out of the way of others.

"We're not going to make it," Sokka exclaimed as he and Katara pulled themselves up.

Suddenly Tenzo stopped running. "Go! I got these guys!" he shouted, turning to the advancing soldiers.

"What?" Katara called out. "But-"

The Earth Kingdom teen waved her off. "Go! I'll be fine!"

With that, the three disappeared into a hallway, leaving Tenzo in the large chamber with the Fire Nation men.

Tenzo raised his hands as soldiers reached him. "If you're smart or you value your lives, you'd turn around," he said to them.

The soldiers just laughed, advancing towards him with their weapons. In an instant, Tenzo threw off his cloak and his hat before moving his hands to the back of his wrist. The men paused, staring at him. Tenzo wore a black sleeveless shirt, with brown leather vest. His legs were clad in brown baggy pants, with cloth bandages wrapped around his shins, a black leather belt around his waist and black socks and sandals on his feet. But it wasn't his clothes they were staring at; it was the gear on top of it. Along the front and sides of his belt were small gourds while on the back of the belt was a pair of odd-looking sheaths, where his hands were. While lengthwise, sheaths appeared to be the size of the ones for short swords, but their width was much greater, like they were holding multiple blades. There were a number of pouches on his vest, full with unknown contents. On both of his biceps were holsters holding a number of knives. Tenzo pulled his hands from the sheaths, moving them in front of him, revealing eight blades on his fingers, four on each hand.

The moment his hat and cloak hit the ground, Tenzo took off, running towards the soldiers.

* * *

"Alright! I'm here!" Azula called out, standing in the dimly lit circular chamber.

There was nothing of interest within the sanctuary, save for the statue of Avatar Roku and the large ruby through which light was shone onto the statue.

"You wanted me here, so here I am!" she continued to yell. "I demand that you answer me!"

As though answering her shouts, the eyes of the statue began to glow. Then, for the briefest of instances, Azula was blinded by an intense light.

When the light faded, she found herself no longer in the temple but on top of a mountain. And she wasn't alone. An elderly man in Fire Nation robes stood before her.

"Hello Azula," Avatar Roku greeted.

* * *

Iroh stood before the now closed sanctuary doors. He wondered why Azula was here. His suspicion was that one of her past lives, namely Roku, was seeking to contact her and needed Azula here to do so. All the other possible reasons seemed far too foolish for Azula to risk setting foot on the Fire Nation, even on Crescent Island. Especially with Ozai here.

With his deed done, Iroh left the hall; confident that whatever would happen today and the days to come, something good would come out of it.

* * *

"Roku," Azula said in a low voice, scowling at the old man.

The spirit of the deceased Avatar ignored her. "We have much to talk about, but unfortunately, precious little time to talk," he said. "I imagine that you have many, many questions for me that you want answered."

"No. All I want for all this nonsense you've tried to force on to be gone," Azula snapped. "Whatever you've done to me, take it away, _now_."

"What you want me to take away is not mine to take or to give," Roku calmly replied. "You are the Avatar, Master of the Four Elements, and one who will restore the balance to the world."

"No!" Azula shouted, vigorously shaking her head in denial. "This is some kind of sick trick designed to ruin my life. You wanted some kind of vengeance against Fire Lord Sozin, didn't you? But he's long dead, so you chose to play this twisted little game of yours on me, his great-granddaughter."

"No. While your ancestors are guilty of many things, but their sins are not yours," the elderly man replied. "Nor is what has happened to you some grand plot against you. And it is quite arrogant to think that."

"I don't care! I want you to make me normal again!" Azula screamed, her voice becoming desperate.

"Normal?" Roku shook his head. "You did not just miraculously gain the ability to bend water that day at the South Pole. You were born with that ability because you are the Avatar. Had it not happened in the South Pole, it would have happened elsewhere. It was inevitable."

"Stop calling me that!"

The old firebender sighed. "Denying the truth will get you nowhere Azula," he coldly stated. "You are the Avatar, and deep down, you know it too."

Azula was getting fed up with this, all of this. None of it made any sense! Why would anyone choose her, the daughter of Fire Lord Ozai and loyal Princess of the Fire Nation to be the Avatar? It was completely insane! This whole situation had to be trick, some kind of plan to destroy the Fire Nation. No, it wasn't against the Fire Nation. It was a plot against her! "Shut up!" she angrily shouted at the old man. "It was bad enough when Zuko took mother from me, but now you've taken father, my crown, _everything_ else I had! So why should I accept what you've thrown on me?"

For an instant, there was a look in Roku's eyes but Azula couldn't tell what it was. "Your father cares nothing for you. You were but a tool to him, to be shaped and used as he saw fit, then discarded when you served him no further purpose. Perhaps, one time, long ago, he was a good man and cared for you but his endless ambition and lust for power have long since destroyed any good in him," the Avatar spirit replied.

Azula's hands shot up, covering her ears as she tried to block out his words. "You're lying! Father loves me!" she yelled shutting her eyes, an almost pleading tone in her voice.

But Roku didn't let up. "Then why did he order your arrest upon the sight of you waterbending, after you saved his life? Is that the act of a loving father?" he questioned. "Is burning the face of your son and banishing him on what was intended to be a fool's errand, the act of a loving father?"

Instantly, Azula became enraged once more. "Don't you _dare_ compare me to Zuko! I'm nothing like that weakling!"

"But can you deny that his actions against you are just like his actions against your brother?"

Azula froze, hesitating for a moment. The truth was, in the back of her mind, she knew her father's orders to arrest her were just like Zuko's banishment, that he had cast her out without even the slightest hesitation. But she had denied those thoughts, pushing them back rather than even acknowledging the slight possibility. "I-It's…it's…not like that," she stammered, trying to come up with a rationalization for his actions. "He thought I was an enemy, that's all. It was a mistake on his part. Father reacted in the heat of the moment."

However, her words had no affect on Roku. "Tell me, if he loves you, then why would he ever consider you an enemy?"

* * *

Finally, Katara, Sokka and Shyu managed to reach the doors to sanctuary, pausing to catch their breath. "I think we lost them," Sokka said, looking around carefully. "So what do we do know?"

"We have to find Azula," Katara replied. "If the soldiers find her first…"

It didn't need to be said.

Sokka shook his head. "Are you kidding? She could be anywhere in this place. All we know is here she's suppose to go."

"I think she may have beaten us here," Shyu commented as he stared at the massive door before them. "Look there, at the dragons' mouths."

The siblings looked up at the dragons. There were scorch marks around all five mouths. "This door is locked by a mechanism that can only be opened by firebending," the Sage explained. "These scorch marks means that someone has entered the sanctuary recently."

"How do you know it's her?" Katara asked. "Couldn't it be one of the other Sages?"

"No. It takes five Sages to open the door and we rarely ever use the sanctuary anymore," Shyu answered. "The Avatar is in there."

"Then all we have to do is wait," Katara said. "Once she exits the room, we can leave."

Shyu nodded his head in agreement. "Precisely."

However, at that moment, a large number of soldiers and Royal Guard entered the chamber, accompanied by the Fire Lord, his son and the other Fire Sages.

* * *

Azula was at a loss for words. Roku's simple question had shaken to the core. Her father loved her; he was the only person who did. Yet he declared her an enemy of the Fire Nation. How could he? She had never wavered in her loyalty, nor had she ever been a disappointment like Zuko. Why? Why did he do it?

Roku ignored her confusion. "You already know that Sozin's Comet is returning at the end of summer and that your father plans to harness its power to end the war. If you don't master the four elements and stop him, it will be the end of everything," he said. "You are the last hope for the world."

Azula let out a laugh, a bitter laugh. They wanted her to master the other elements when one of them was lost and then use them to defeat her father? It was a joke. It was all one big sick joke. "I hate to break it to you, but the Air Nomads are extinct," she replied. "Airbending has been lost. And correct me if I'm mistaken, but shouldn't the next element be Air? So how exactly is someone supposed to learn it when there is no one left to teach it? To me, it looks like you've already lost."

The elder firebender shook his head. "You are mistaken. Most believe that the Avatar must learn the elements in order of the Cycle. But that is merely the preferred order, born from the order the seasons and our comparison between them and the elements. It is not written in stone what order you must learn and master each of them in. There have been plenty of Avatars in the past that have learned the elements different orders for different reasons. Fire, Air, Water, Earth. They are all parts of a greater whole. Separate, yet together. It is up to you to master them all," he said. "Nor has airbending become a lost art, for as long as there is life, the Bending Arts will never be lost. It will not be an easy task, but you have a considerable advantage over your predecessor."

"My predecessor?"

"Yes. She was an earthbender, so naturally she struggled to learn her opposing element, Air. Before she died, she had only managed to achieve a basic level of airbending. You, born a firebender, will not have that same problem," Roku explained. "For Air is not your opposing element."

* * *

Tenzo whistled as he brushed a hand through his short dark brown hair before putting his straw hat back on. Behind him laid the bodies of the Fire Nation soldiers, injured and unconscious, but alive.

"You guys were good, but I was better," he commented as one of the battered soldiers pulled himself to his feet behind him.

The soldier roaring, charging at the teen with his sword raised. But Tenzo was faster, dropping down under the sword swing as he swept his leg, tripping the man. The soldier fell face first into the ground, his sword flying from his grasp. "See?" Tenzo said, bringing his foot down on the man's head. "There's only one person that can be me and you're not her."

With the soldiers taken out, Tenzo knew he had to find the others. First off, they were his ride off the island. There was no way he was going to get stuck on this little island. Second, they got him out of the Swamp, so he owed them one.

More footsteps began to echo in the chamber. There were more soldiers coming. "Well, it's time to get out of here. So long gentlemen," he said, sprinting away from the footsteps, towards where the others had gone.

* * *

"Sadly, our time is running out," Roku said, ending their conversation. "However before we part ways, I have a small gift for you. Something to ensure your escape from here."

Azula opened her mouth, but before she could speak a blinding light consumed her vision for an instant before darkness took her.

* * *

Ozai paced before the doors to the sanctuary. While they had easily captured the traitorous Sage and the two Water Tribe rats, none of them were talking. And he had not forgotten who those two brats were. The girl's death would be slow and agonizing.

"Azula is in the sanctuary, isn't she?" he said, turning to the two children.

Both only glared at him, answering his question. "Open the doors!" he ordered, stepping away from the prisoners.

Five of his firebenders lined up before the mouths of the dragon locks. Without saying a word, they moved in unison, streams of fire soaring into the mouths. The mechanism was tripped once more and the gate began to unlock.

However, a blinding light poured out from chamber. All of them were forced to shield their eyes from a moment as a figure emerged from the light. But it was not Azula. It was…

"Avatar Roku!" the Elder Sage exclaimed, terror in his eyes as he stared at the ghostly Avatar.

Others could only stare in fear and confusion at the lost Avatar. Had he somehow returned after a hundred years to punish them?

"Attack!" Ozai shouted, one of the few unaffected by the man's appearance. "Kill him!"

His Royal Guard and firebenders attacked, throwing fireball after fireball at the old man. But Roku was faster, slapping them his hands as they came at him, sending them away from him. The firebenders stopped for a second before striking as one, creating a huge stream of fire. Roku held his hands out. The flames struck his palms, pushing the fire around him.

The firebenders stopped their attack, unsure of how to actually harm the man. But Roku didn't stop. He raised his right arm up in the air for a second before slamming it down. Suddenly, the whole island began to shake violently. Cracks began to form in the walls and floor of the temple. In the distance, the volcano of Crescent Island erupted with a thundering explosion. The Avatar pulled his left arm up. The cracks in the temple grew wider. Geysers of magma began to force its way up all across the island and even in the temple itself.

"My Lord!" one of the Royal Guards called out. "The temple will not last against this! We must flee before it is too late!"

Ozai scowled at the ghostly figure for a second before turning and running, along with nearly everyone else. As the Fire Nation soldiers fled down the stairways with their Lord and his son, one person ran up, practically unnoticed by them.

"What's going on?" Tenzo exclaimed as he reached the Water Tribe siblings, who were staring wide-eyed at the form of Roku.

With the threat gone and his job done, Roku disappeared, leaving Azula's body standing where he stood. Azula fell to her hands and knees, blinking her eyes. Katara rushed to her, helping the Princess to her feet. "I'm starting to get really sick of that," Azula grumbled.

However, while Roku's spirit may have left, the island's volcano was still erupting.

"Come on!" Sokka yelled, heading for the nearest stairway. "We got to get out of here!"

But as he neared it, lava began to pour up through it. The teen cursed as he backed away from the stairs. "Ah great! How are we suppose to get out of here now?"

"Out of the way," Azula ordered, slipping into a firebending stance.

Sokka yelped, diving out of the way as Azula gathered fire into her hands, becoming a large fireball. She threw the ball of fire into the wall. It exploded, tearing a huge hole in the wall.

"How's that going to help?" Sokka exclaimed. "We're still several stories up!"

"The only thing we can do, jump!" Azula snapped. "Unless you'd like to stay here."

However, at that moment Sora appeared, flying towards the opening in the temple wall. Sokka let out a laugh. "I take back every bad thing I said about her!" he cheered, rushing to the hole.

The others followed after him, waiting at the edge of the hole as the Sky Bison came to a stop before it. One by one, they jumped onto the saddle, Sokka taking the reins. Once they were all on, he guided the beast up into the sky.

"Well, that was certainly interesting," Tenzo commented, looking back at the temple. "Is it like this all the time with you guys?"

"More or less," Sokka replied. He glanced over at Azula. "I trust this whole mess was worth it."

Azula scowled at him. "Just get us out of here," she said, a bitter tone in her voice.

"Come on Azula. What happened?" Katara asked, just as curious as the others were.

She didn't know why, but for some reason, Azula answered her. Maybe it was because that Azula could stand the naïve girl while she could only just tolerate her annoying moronic brother. "They want me to master the other elements and defeat the Fire Nation before the end of this summer," she answered halfheartedly. "Or else it's the end of the world."

Tenzo chuckled. "Well, you certainly seem to like difficult tasks. First, sneaking into that temple crawling with soldiers, now planning to take on the entire Fire Nation. You're certainly an interesting bunch."

* * *

And done. I can't believe just how long this chapter became. I would start writing a section and I just wouldn't stop. But it's done and I have to say, I'm quite pleased with how it turned out.

As always, hit that magic button at the bottom and submit a review.


	10. Book 1: Chapter 10

Yo everybody! I have to say that I've been getting annoyed at myself for the last month and a half. My writing muse has been going wild with all kinds of ideas. I've become compelled to write them while wanting to work on my preexisting stories. It's been very frustrating to say the least. Though I must say that I've got some interesting Avatar stories and have been thinking of compiling them together in a collection for your viewing pleasure.

Oh, and just to clear things, Sora is a female Sky Bison. That was just a typo I missed.

**Chapter Ten: Hei Bai**

Sora let out a loud yawn as she slowly began to drop. It wasn't all that surprising considering that they had been flying for a night and half a day. The Sky Bison was tiring. "We better set down soon," Katara said, leaning over to pat the beast's side.

"I believe that there's a small village near here," Tenzo commented, studying the terrain below them as Momo sat as his shoulder.

"But we're still in Fire Nation territory," Sokka replied from atop Sora's head.

Tenzo shook his head. "That shouldn't be a problem. It's too small and too remote. If my estimations are correct, it's a few miles east, beyond that hill."

"What's the village called?" Katara asked.

"Senlin Village if I recall correctly," Tenzo answered. "On the outskirts of the… Hmm… I can't remember what the forest is called. But it stands on edge of a rather impressive forest."

The waterbender nodded. "Sounds like a plan." She turned to the silent fourth member of their group. "What do you think Azula?"

The firebender didn't respond, seemingly lost in thought as Hisaki lay curled up on her lap.

"Azula?"

The girl blinked, coming out of her stupor. "Hm… What? …Fine. Do whatever you want."

Katara studied Azula with concern. The girl hadn't said a word since they escaped the Fire Temple. She hadn't even hurled an insult at her brother for what was an unprecedented amount of time.

She didn't like it.

Katara had hoped that whatever had happened to Azula within the private sanctuary of the temple, it would help her out with accepting her destiny as the Avatar. Instead, she had become quiet and withdrawn.

It seemed almost like she had given up on everything.

For the sake of the world, Katara hoped that she hadn't.

* * *

They had found the forest… or at least what remained of it. A vast fire had blazed through the forest, leaving nothing but scorched ground, ash and the brunt remains of trees. Katara knelt down; digging a hand through the ash and watching it slide through her fingers. She shook her head. Everything was dead in forest.

"Fire Nation!" Sokka angrily exclaimed as they stood amid a clearing of ash. "Those evil savages have no-"

"Why do you automatically assume that this was caused by the Fire Nation? By some footprints in the ash? Or perhaps because they're your enemy?" Azula snapped, cutting the teen off.

Everyone turned to the formerly silent girl, a little surprised that something had actually kicked Azula out of her apathetic state. Though considering that it was caused by Sokka, it wasn't really all that surprising. Regardless, Azula was visibly angered by the teen's words. "This fire could have been just as easily started by a natural cause," she continued. "And even then, a forest fire isn't entirely a bad thing. Of course, living in a land of snow and ice, I don't expect you to understand that."

"What? How can any of this be good?" Sokka shouted back, waving his arms in the air.

"Simple. Look under the ash," the firebender replied, walking past him.

Sokka looked down at the ground. But all he could see was ash. "Look closer Water Boy."

He let out an annoyed grunted but Sokka followed her words, kneeling down and studying the ground intently. Sokka reached out and brushed some of the ash aside, revealing a couple of acorns lying underneath.

"Forest fires kill the old and dead trees, allowing the seeds beneath the soil to grow unobstructed," Azula said, staring out at the burnt forest impassively. "Fire can destroy _and _usher in new life." Azula turned to face the others. "There's no point staying here. Let's get going."

Tenzo nodded. "The village should be in that direction," he said, pointing to the east. "Maybe twenty minutes walking and we'll be there."

"And you're sure that won't be any Fire Nation soldiers there?" a concerned Katara asked.

"The Fire Nation Army may control most of the eastern regions of the Earth Kingdom; they don't have enough men to have a presence in every tiny village and hamlet. They can only send troops to vital locations along their supply lines," the firebender explained. "Anything else would be a waste of good men. Backwater towns are usually ignored completely. There will be nothing there."

* * *

They found the village, but it was in as bad a shape as the forest. The gates had been torn open, revealing damaged and outright crushed houses, only the buildings furthest from the gates had remained unscratched; the village hall among them. Sora laid down by the gate and began to sleep as they entered the village, people peered out of the windows of the hall and some of the still standing houses, the distinct look of fear in their eyes. Four men emerged from the hall, approaching the new arrivals. "Please leave while you still can," the man leading the four urged. "It's not safe here."

"What do you mean? What's happened here?" Katara asked.

"Is it the Fire Nation?" her brother added.

"None of that matters now," the man replied. "You must get out of here before nightfall!"

"Why?" the young waterbender inquired. "What's going to happen tonight? And you did this to your village? Maybe we can help you."

The man shook his head. "No one can help us."

"Do not be too hasty Quan," a breaded old man said as he approached them. "We are in desperate need of help. Who are we to refuse anyone's help?"

"But they are just children," Quan exclaimed. "How could they help us?"

"We can start by explaining what has happened," the elder replied. "If they can do something to help, they will. If not, than they will know way they should leave."

Quan let out a sigh, a look of utter desperation on his face. "Very well," he said, turning to the teens. "It all started nearly two weeks ago, after the attack and the wild fire that followed it-"

"See! I knew it was the Fire Nation!" Sokka gloated, cutting the man off.

"Not exactly," the elder replied. "While a group of people from the Fire Nation were involved in the attack, they were the victims."

Most of them were taken back by this. Sokka blinked. "What? _They_ were the victims!" he exclaimed in disbelief.

Quan nodded his head. "Yes. It was a caravan of Fire Nation traders and merchants that was attack by a group of guerrillas," he explained. "You see, the caravan had made camp in the forest for the night when guerrillas attacked. The caravan had no firebenders or even warriors among them." Quan shook his head in shame. "They didn't have a chance."

There was a momentary pause before the man continued the story. "After they had killed most of them and loot what supplies they found useful, the guerrillas set fire to their camp and fled. A local woodsman stumbled onto the camp as the fires began to grow out of control and carried the sole survivor of the merchants back to our village. He explained what happened to us. Sadly, he did not survive his wounds."

The Village Chief than gestured towards the burnt forest. "For five days, the fire raged before the rains came and put it out. It was that night, when the fires had died that it came, Hei Bai, a terrifying spirit-monster that has senselessly attacked our village night after night, taking our family and friends. But on the night of the Solstice, it brought even more terrible destruction and took nearly everyone in a single, horrible night."

The elder gestured behind him at the handful of villagers and children that had begun to gather just beyond the group. "We are all that is left of our village," he added.

The teens just stood there for a moment, unsure of what to even say to all of that. What could they do against a rampaging spirit? It was said that there were only a few things that could stop a spirit, fewer that could actually harm one.

But the silence was quickly by Katara, who turned to the other girl in their group. "Azula, you can help them," she said, earning surprised looks from everyone around her.

"What?" Azula said, her confusion echoed by many others.

Quan raised an eyebrow questioningly. "I don't understand. Could you please explain?"

"Our friend here's the Avatar," the smiling waterbender replied.

Some of the villagers gasped, others shook their heads but all of them stared in disbelief and hope. "The Avatar? She's the Avatar?" one asked.

"Impossible. The Avatar abandoned us long ago," another bitterly stated.

"This must be some kind of trick."

"Why would someone pretend to be the Avatar?"

The old man took a step towards the two girls. "Is it true? Are you the Avatar?" he asked, almost pleading. "Are you the one that can save us?"

Katara's grin widened and she nodded. "Yes. She can confront this Hei Bai and stop it," the dark skinned girl said.

Azula blinked. "I can?"

"She can?" Sokka added just as confused as the firebender.

But Katara ignored and continued to speak, "And I bet she can even rescue all those people that have been taken."

"What?" both her brother and the princess exclaimed together.

Tenzo rubbed his chin, contemplating Katara's words. "She does have a point. Azula is the Avatar and the Avatar is supposed to able to commune with the Spirits," he pointed out. "She should be able to stop the rampaging spirit and get it to release all the people it has taken."

"What?" the two said again.

* * *

The firebender stood in center of the village, staring at the open gate as she waited for the sun to set and the spirit to appear. "Fight a dangerous spirit monster, stop it from taking more peasants from the village and then somehow rescue everyone they've taken," Azula muttered to herself, annoyed that she had gotten dragged into this. "How did I let her talk me into to this? Why am I even doing this to begin with? It's not like I'm going to actually gain anything from this. Some supplies?" Azula shook her head. "This isn't worth it."

As she complained to herself, the last crimson streaks of the sun disappeared, ushering in the night. For a few minutes, there was nothing. But then, the sound of heavy footsteps came from the distance, growing louder and nearer by the second. Finally, footsteps began to appear before the gate. But there was no sign of what created them. The footsteps crossed the threshold and Hei Bai appeared.

It was a huge hulking beast with black and white skin, hunched over on two stubby legs and two large arms. Two smaller arms emerged from near its neck. Its eyeless head ended with a short, tooth-filled maw.

Hei Bai moved through the village, snarling as it approached. It stopped before the firebender, craning its head down at her. "Spirit! I demand that you stop and that you return all the people you've taken!" Azula called out.

The large beast leaned down, coming face to face with the firebender. Then it roared at her. Azula stood her ground as what felt like a gale force wind hit her. "Of course that didn't work because that's just my luck," she muttered the instant the roar stopped. "No matter. We'll just do things the other way."

Fire struck Hei Bai's face but had little effect on spirit, save for annoying it. The beast swung its fist, hitting Azula with phenomenal speed. The firebender hit the ground while the raging spirit turned its attention to the buildings of the village, wildly attacking them.

Azula picked herself up as Hei Bai continued to roar and smash the wooden structures. Now, she was becoming angry. She unleashed a series of rapid punches and kicks, throwing fire at the spirit. But it still did nothing to the spirit.

Hei Bai turned to her once more and roared before charging at her. Azula dove out of its path, narrowly avoiding being hit. However, the beast continued moving, heading for the hall where everyone else was.

People screamed as Hei Bai's fists smashed into the wood, its hands grasping for more victims to take. A black hand shot out through a hole, reaching for the Water Tribe girl. "Katara!" Sokka yelled, throwing himself at his sister.

He knocked Katara to the ground before the hand could touch her. However, while she had been spared, Sokka wasn't so lucky. Hei Bai grabbed her brother instead, lifting him up into the air.

Unbeknownst to Hei Bai or any of the others in the hall, Azula had climbed atop the roof of one of the nearby buildings, rope with a stone hastly tied to one end wrapped around her chest. Sprinted towards the edge, she leapt onto the back of Hei Bai. Pulling the rope from her body, Azula swung the end tied to the stone down its left shoulder, sending the rope around Hei Bai's neck and up past its other shoulder. With robe bound across its neck, Hei Bai let out ferocious howl as it violently shook its body, trying to shake Azula off. But she held on with all of her strength.

Suddenly, the spirit spun around and took off with Sokka still in its grasp and Azula clinging to its back. It didn't take long for them past through the gate and into the small portion of the forest that had survived the fire before moving into the charred and scorched lands beyond it. But as Hei Bai was running, it didn't stop trying to throw Azula off, shaking and bucking wildly. Yet despite its violent attempts Azula did not let up, trying to exert some form of control over it like a trainer breaking a wild Komodo Rhino.

Hei Bai then made a sudden, hard right turn. Azula tried to hold on but she was sent flying, losing her grip on the rope in the process. Pain shot through her body as she hit the ground, darkness quickly taking her.

* * *

The sun had risen once more but there was no since either Azula or Sokka. While the villagers went about their daily activities though far more depressed than the day before, Katara nervously paced up and down the main thoroughfare of Senlin Village, waiting any sign of the two. Nearby, Tenzo was searching through one of the destroyed houses for something.

"We can't sit around any longer!" Katara proclaimed, unable to wait any longer. "We have to find them!"

Tenzo shook his head as he climbed to feet. "No we don't," he replied, cleaning his hands off.

"But they're somewhere out there with Hei Bai!" the waterbender exclaimed.

The Earth Kingdom teen started to approach her, stepping over debris. "Don't you remember what the village chief said? Hei Bai attacks at night then disappears with number of people back to where he came from," he said, pausing to study a pile of rubble. "Obviously he takes them back to the Spirit World which happens to be a place that we can't get to."

"But-"

"Just relax Katara. Azula is the Avatar. If anyone can fix this mess, it's her," Tenzo added, cutting the girl's protests off before they could begin. "Have faith in the Avatar, Katara."

Doubt and worry still filled Katara's heart. "But how can you be so sure?"

"I grew up on stories of the past Avatars and they kept the peace and protected the world. To be honest, when I was younger the Avatar and all of their past lives was my hero. In fact, I actually wanted to be the Avater as a little kid so I could save the world." Tenzo chuckled for a moment before continuing. "I've grown up since then but I still believe that the Avatar will end the war and bring back peace. If Azula is the Avatar as you have said then she will overcome this. Besides, Momo and Hisaki aren't worried."

Not far from them, the two animals were once again fighting over a piece of fruit. Momo had stolen the fruit from the young wyvern and was now gliding around her with it in his paws. Hisaki was vainly flapping her wings, trying to chase after the lemur.

Tenzo chuckled at their antics but Katara just stood there, her mind on other matters. She believed what he had said as well but it was still her brother out there in the clutches of a fearsome spirit. Katara was confident that Azula would be fine out there, but Sokka…

"Yes!" Tenzo suddenly cheered, startling the girl as he pulled out a large round object from the debris. "A Pai Sho board!"

"Pai what?"

"It just so happens to be my favorite game," the young man explained as he carried the board out and set it up on the ground. "Wanna learn how to play? It'd be a great way to get your mind off things."

Katara didn't answer immediately. Truthfully, she had no desire to play a game yet at the same time, she desperately desired to do something to take her mind off her brother and Azula. "Alright," she finally answered, sitting down across from him at the board.

Tenzo proceeded to explain the rules of Pai Sho and the basics of the game to her before they set up and began to play. Naturally, he was going easy on her rather than playing as he normally did. "So tell me about yourself. Where did you grow up? Who are your parents?" he asked, moving one of his pieces.

"Sokka and I are from the Southern Water Tribe," Katara answered, thinking about what was going to do. "Until recently, we had lived there all our lives."

"Until you met Azula I take?"

The waterbender nodded as she pushed a piece across the board. "Yes. I knew that we had to do everything in our power to help her fulfill her destiny," she admitted. "What about you? Where's your home?"

"Need had a single place that I called home. My parents were archeologists, working for the University of Ba Sing Se. Their team was always traveling from dig site to dig site. Because of that they took their families with them so they could be with them while they worked. In a way, we grew up as one large," a grinning Tenzo replied. "They taught me everything they knew."

Katara returned the smile, thinking of her own family and all the good times they had. "Where are they now?"

The teen paused for a moment, the smile slipping from his face, before he answered. "…They died a few years ago."

Katara paled, realizing that she may have just stepped a sensitive matter for him. "Oh… I'm so sorry."

"Don't be. They lived a good life," Tenzo said, a small smile returning to his face. "And I got a chance to see them in the Swamp. Of course, from what I heard you had your own encounter with a lost loved one."

Memories of the vision of Azula in chains, betrayed by her to the Fire Nation returned to Katara's mind. The fear that she was going to betray the Azula in future had begun to haunt her nightmares. It was inconceivable to her. Why would she help them capture Azula? They were the people that started this wretched war that had yet to end after almost a hundred years. It was because of them that her father had left them to fight in war. It was because them that her mother… was gone. So why would she help them?

"Is something wrong?" Tenzo asked, pulling her from her thoughts.

Katara shook her head and stood up. "I'm sorry but I'm just too worried about Sokka and Azula to play," she said before leaving him to wander the village some more, trying to get the image of the shackled Azula out of her head.

* * *

Azula groaned as she woke up, her body aching all over. Slowly, she opened her eyes. All around her was ash and dead trees. She pulled herself back up to her feet. Nothing was broken, just bruised and banged up a little. All things considering, she was lucky that she hadn't been hurt worse. The firebender looked around at her surrounding, trying to figure out which way the village was. Clearly, the direct approach had failed her. She was going to need to come with another plan to stop Hei Bai.

Azula stopped. _'What am I thinking?'_ she thought. _'There was no reason to help these people in the first place. I have my own problems; I don't have the time to deal with theirs'. We should just move on and let them deal with Hei Bai.'_

The princess shook her head and started to head in what she believed was the direction of the village. Of course, Azula knew that Katara would not leave without her brother and would demand that they stay until he was rescue from Hei Bai. And as much as Azula hated to admit it, she had no one else beyond those three.

She could either abandon and take her chances on her own or find a way to stop Hei Bai.

Needless to say, Azula was not pleased with either option.

The teen placed her hand on the side of a still standing dead tree, weighing her options. This would all be so much easier if she actually knew of a way of dealing with the spirit. Unfortunately, the ways of spirits were not something that was in most schools. Her own education which had been among the best in the world, had been lacking in that particular field. She did know that the weakest spirits were bound to specific places, such as lake spirits, forest spirits and the like. These places were not only their domains but the source of their power as well and should such a place be desecrated, their power would wane. But stronger spirits did not have that weakness. And if Hei Bai was such a spirit, her chances of defeating it were slim to nil.

Azula sighed and took a step forward, only to lose her footing in what had been a particularly dense pile of ash that had been a fall tree. She stumbled forward, landing on her knees. The firebender let out an annoyed grunt as she stood up, catching something in the corner of her eye. Azula turned to the tree that she had been standing next to. But it wasn't a tree rather it was a statue carved from a log. The statue had been cut into the image of some kind of beast that Azula had never seen before. It was similar to a Platypus Bear yet clearly different, missing the large tail and with a muzzle instead of a bill. Studying the statue, Azula notice an engraving near the base, covered in soot and ash.

"What is this?" she asked aloud, wiping off the gunk.

Azula froze upon reading the words. "Is that…" she uttered, rereading it twice more. "I don't believe it..."

She shook her head in disbelief. It was so obvious! Why hadn't she realized it sooner! "Of all the absolutely idiotic things!" she shouted in annoyance before beginning to dig into the ash at her feet, looking for what she needed to stop Hei Bai.

* * *

The sun had begun to set again when Azula finally found Senlin Village again. Already, most of the villagers had fled into the hall, praying for the coming night to end quickly. However, both Azula and Tenzo were still outside, undoubtedly waiting to see if she would return.

"Azula!" Katara called out, racing towards her as she stopped at the gate to catch her breath. "Are you alright? What happened to Sokka?"

"Get back!" Azula snapped. "I'll deal with Hei Bai!"

Wisely, both teens retreated back to the village hall with the others as the sounds of footsteps began to echo through the air. Once more, the rampaging Hei Bai emerged. Just as she did the night before, Azula stood in its path. "You know if you're supposed to be the spirit of this forest than you're absolutely pathetic!" Azula shouted as it drew near.

Hei Bai stopped its tracks. For a moment, it just stood there before letting out an angry roar but Azula stood her ground. "Your forest burns down and you just start throwing a tantrum like a spoiled child," she continued with a scowl as she held up her hand. "Did it ever occur to you that your forest will grow back, like any other forest after a fire? Have you actually taken a look out there? There are all kinds of seeds and acorns beginning to grow." Azula opened up her hand, revealing an acorn. "No. You were too busy throwing your tantrums and attacking a bunch of peasants who had nothing to do with what had happened!"

The spirit seemed at a loss, standing there in confusion. "Go! See for yourself!" the girl yelled. "Buried among the ash are countless seeds that will become a new forest. You've just been too blind to see it!"

Hei Bai let out a whimper as its shape changed into that of the creature from the status. It knelt down before her. Likely it was attempting to apologize for everything it had done. After a few seconds, the spirit stood up and grabbed the acorn with its mouth.

"Now return all of the people you've taken and leave," Azula commanded.

The spirit bowed its head then turned around and started leaving. As Hei Bai crossed the threshold of the village gates, it disappeared while a group of dazed figures appeared, stumbling into the village. Cheers began to fill the air as the villagers in the hall ran out to the newcomers, eager to reunite with their missing friends and family.

"Huh? How'd I get here?" a very confused Sokka asked as he wandered into the village.

"Sokka!" an ecstatic Katara shouted as she embraced him in a hug.

"Ah… Hi sis," the teen said, not understanding what was happening at all.

* * *

The villagers had been overjoyed at the return of their friends and loved ones, so much so that they had quickly arranged for a big feast that night. It wasn't much considering the state of the village, but it didn't matter to them. They were happy to be free from the terror of Hei Bai.

"Meat! Real food!" Sokka cheered seconds before grabbing as much as he could.

Tenzo chuckled as he began to eat his own meal. "No dry rations or swamp food for us tonight."

"You said it," the Water Tribe boy replied in between mouthfuls of meat, half eaten bits flying from his mouth.

Katara could only shake her head at her brother's manners or lack thereof. It was one thing for him to eat like a pig-cow at home but it was entirely different for him to do it in front of an entire village. She glanced over to here Azula had been sitting only to find that the firebender was no longer there.

The waterbender stood up from the table, excusing herself as she left to find where the princess had gone.

* * *

She found Azula sitting on what was left of a shattered house's porch, looking up at the night sky. The firebender didn't react as Katara sat down next to her. "Why'd you leave Azula? Aren't you hungry?" she asked, her voice full of concern.

For a moment, Azula just sat there before finally responding. "All my life, I knew what I was supposed to do. I knew my purpose, my destiny. Everything made sense," she bitterly said, her back to Katara. "I was Azula, Princess of the Fire Nation and Heir to Fire Lord Ozai. But now… now I've learned it's all a lie. My entire life was just one big lie." Her shoulders slumped as uncertainty filled her. "What am I supposed to do now?"

Katara put a hand on the princess's shoulder, rubbing it reassuringly. She knew it was hard for Azula but staying depressed like this would not help her or the rest of the world. "You're the Avatar, Azula. You're the one who's going to master the four elements and save the world," she said. "That is your purpose, your destiny."

Azula let out a bitter chuckle and shook her head. "It just sounds so crazy." She looked over her shoulder at the waterbender. "Can you actually imagine me learning the other elements? It's just so ridiculous."

"Oh sure," Katara lightly replied, pulling her hand back. "You may be a firebending prodigy, but you would just flail around and stumble trying to learn waterbending."

The firebender blinked while a look of annoyance slowly spread across her face. "What did you just say?"

Katara rose to her feet, ambling from Azula. "Admit it. You've learned firebending with ease but you won't be able to learn earthbending and airbending, much less waterbending, with that same ease," she said. "You're not good."

One thing that she had learned about Azula in the time they had been traveling together was that she was prideful, especially about her bending. Katara had figured that had she made a slight against her bending, Azula's attention would quickly change from everything that had happened to proving the superiority of her bending ability. Which was exactly she was reacting.

Azula quickly stood up and followed after her. "Oh really? Well then, why don't we just see how well I can learn waterbending?" she called out, forgetting about how she had been feeling a minute ago.

* * *

And done.

You know, one thing that annoyed me about A:TLA was that virtually every bad thing in the world was blamed on the Fire Nation. They basically painted the entire army of the Fire Nation as evil warmongering conquerors and the warriors of the Earth Kingdom and Water Tribe were desperate, valiant fighters. It seemed like the very idea of Fire Nation soldiers doing something good or those of the Earth Kingdom and Water Tribe doing something cruel or wicked was utterly alien to the writers. Barring of course Jet and Long Feng. That is something that I plan to change as I've just shown in this chapter. In the canon, the Fire Nation burned down the forest, presumably in battle. But there will be other instances of this down the road to show.

As always, I love to hear from you, my fans. So hit that button and leave a review.


	11. Important Note

Recently, I've hit a roadblock for all of my currently existing stories. It's been born through stresses in real life and a recent in flux of annoying PM spams from various people demanding updates for various stories of mine to the point that I feel utterly frustrated with everything. So I'm going to write a new Avatar story. Namely one of the three ideas I have up in my 'Avatar Story Ideas'. So those of you reading this off 'Twist of Fate' and haven't read those ideas, go look them up. Basically, I've narrowed it down to those three base ideas though thanks to suggestions from fans, I've refined those ideas into something better. (at least to me anyway) So they won't quite be what I've shown in those story ideas.

However, I cannot decide which one to write. Therefore, I will be putting up poll on my profile page to let you, my fans, choose. I'm going to put it up for about a week and which ever story wins will be what I work on for now.

Also, I haven't given up on my other stories, I'm just taking a total break from them for awhile. And any further advice or suggestions for my stories are as always welcomed.


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